


No Quarter

by Drachenkinder



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: AU after Ragnorak, Angst, BDSM, F/M, M/M, Original Story - Freeform, POV Original Character, Porn, Takes place after "Where do we go from here", Violence, post Loki's 'death' in IW
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2019-07-08 09:03:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 33
Words: 98,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15927197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drachenkinder/pseuds/Drachenkinder
Summary: Jack and his son Corbin searching for answers





	1. Close the door, put out the light.

Jack stretched, reaching, caught up in the animal feel of muscle and tendons pulling against bones. His back swayed, his long leathery wings pointed up to the deep purple sky and his tail uncurled to brush the soft dry grass. His hind claws extended, dug into the turf and his fore claws reached for the pinpoints of newly revealed stars. He yawned and shook himself. He sheathed his claws and ran his hands through his coarse black hair, raking out any sleep tangled knots. He smoothed his shirt and tucked it back into his pants and hunted around for his socks and sandals. He leaned on a wing to pull them on, reflecting that it sure beat hopping about on one foot. 

He really should have bought some boots. The weather was getting cold and the terrain was rougher when he had to walk. The problem was, that boots kept him from using his back claws. He hadn’t realized how wild this part of Norway was. If Corbin hadn’t seen that bear in time… Jack shuddered at his close call. His instinctive kicking slash had caught the bear on its nose, causing it to pause its attack and giving them both enough time to fly up out of reach. He hated to think of his son out here alone, this world was all new to him and he didn’t understand the culture or the language. Not that Jack understood Norwegian, but many people here spoke at least some English. Corbin’s English, however was littered with Sakaarian idioms and a heavy off world accent. He’d had a hard time getting people to understand him in America. Jack didn’t have much hope for his linguistic skills here. 

Jack built up the fire, filled their pot with water from the small stream and put it on to boil. He folded his sleeping bag into a makeshift seat and was digging out their breakfast supplies when Corbin stirred in his own bed. His eyes blinked open, caught the firelight and reflected a soft greenish glow. Jack smiled at his son. Corbin squirmed out of his sleeping bag and shook out his wings, taking a moment to smooth out the ebony feathers with his hands. He tried to do the same to his hair but the soft wavy strands were snarled and in need of a brush. At twelve the boy was already as tall as Jack.

“Good evening little bird.” Jack said.

“Papa, don’t call me that.” Corbin whined, standing up and kicking his bed into a pile. “I’m not a baby.”

“You’ll always be my little bird, no matter how big and grumpy you get, Corby.” Jack said, as he greased a pan and placed it next to the pot. “Fold your bed up right and come help me make breakfast.”

Corbin sighed dramatically, reminding Jack of his sire, but complied and in a few minutes pancakes and sausages were sizzling and the boiling water was converted to cups of tea. 

“How long until we reach the settlement?” Corbin asked, shoveling down an impressive amount of food.

“By tomorrow morning if the weather and my wings hold out.” Jack answered. 

“I hope so.” Corbin replied. “I’m tired of sleeping on the ground, and eating dried everything. I want a hot shower and a real bed. I wish we could have driven there.”

“Me too kiddo, but there aren’t any roads up here and we couldn’t afford a helicopter, not to mention that we don’t have official permission to be here at all.” Jack said. “I just hope we can get close enough that I can talk somebody into taking us to see the prince before they ship us out.” 

Jack didn’t tell his son he wasn’t sure what would happen after that. He’d tried to send a message both using the official site and the supposed royal email and hadn’t received a reply. He’d called the embassy and asked for his message to be passed on and he hadn’t got a return call. He’d even gone to the trouble to send an actual letter with the supply shipment and still he’d heard nothing. He was hurt for himself, but more importantly he was pissed off for his son’s sake. Corbin had a right to see the rest of his family. Jack might be a nobody, but Corbin carried royal blood and the bastards better recognize him or Jack would see them pay. It was one thing for Jack to be abandoned and lied to, it was a whole different matter when it came to Corbin. Jack was determined to see justice for his son.

Which was why they were taking the overland route across some of the roughest territory in northern Norway. No one would traverse this broken country on foot if they had any alternative. It would be next to impossible to carry enough supplies to make it to their destination. Luckily Jack and Corbin weren’t limited to walking. Flying by night, too low for radar and too small to be picked up by satellite scans they had made good time. A final guide that Jack had created two nights ago told them their target was close and still at the island stronghold. He didn’t like invoking his power as High Priest, as it might send a warning. But he didn't want to come all this way only to be told the prince was not at home. Jack now knew where he was. There was no more need for compass or GPS checks.

The flight was quiet, no more bears on their rest breaks, no patrolling planes and the wind was at their backs, adding speed to their wings. It was still dark when they reached the edge of the woods looking out toward the settlement. Even here Jack could plainly see the corridor of patrol boats along the ocean side and the strange hovering sky ships that circled overhead. 

They prepared for the infiltration attempt. First they changed into clothing that had not a trace of metal or plastic. Jack wasn’t positive such things would give them away but he wasn’t taking any chances. Even the buckles on his sandals meant he had to leave them behind. All their camping supplies and their clothing were bundled together and hidden in the trees. If successful they could come back and get them. If they failed they wouldn’t need them in a holding cell. He called Corbin to his side and handed his son the tether that would insure they didn’t get separated. This would take careful work. The barriers were strong around the island. He hoped they relied on the physical presence of the boats and the shimmering wall of magic he could see with his true sight. If the settlement had radar they were fucked. Corbin completed his glamor first, disappearing from sight. Jack checked his shield that would keep him safe from the magical wards and made a few adjustments. Then he set the same spells on himself.

“Ready Corby?” He asked.

“Ready Papa.” Corbin answered, excitement and fear making his voice waver.

“No more talking till we land, pull the rope if you need to get my attention.” Jack said.

He stepped from the shelter of the trees and crouched low before kicking off to flap his way into the dark sky. He could feel the air currents swirl from Corbin’s wings as his son joined him in flight. To an outside observer the only sign of their take off was a sudden swirling of sand and scattered pine needles.

It was tense going across the open cropland, neither of their wings were completely soundless and Jack was afraid that someone would hear them approach. But the hovering air ships passed overhead without any alarm. As they reached the barrier Jack slowed and circled studying the wave forms of the magic. It was nerve racking to have the guards patrolling below and the ships moving overhead as they flew back and forth. Their glamor and shields held though. One patrol ship passed through the magical barrier coming out and Jack saw how it opened around the hull. He turned and flew back a bit watching the patrol airships. When one turned toward the settlement he flew to its underside, tugging Corbin along with him. He latched onto the boat’s hull with one hand and pulled Corbin beside him with the other.

“Hold onto the hull and flatten yourself as much as you can.” Jack whispered when he felt his son’s hand grasp his. 

Jack wove his magic to mimic the spell that covered the ship. It would only hold for a moment, but a moment was all they needed. As the ship slipped through the barrier Jack loosed his spell letting it flow over them both. There was the slightest ripple in the magic wall as they passed but no alarm sounded. The rode along, invisible, clinging to the hull until the ship turned toward its dock. With a tug on the tether, Jack let go and fell toward the ground opening his wings when he’d gathered enough momentum. He felt Corbin follow his lead, though his son could have fluttered into flight the second he left the ship. With his lighter build and feathered wings he was a more efficient flyer then Jack.

They glided over the settlement, most of the buildings were long and low, constructed of wood and roofed with sharp peaks to shed the snow. The largest was the most obvious one to find a prince, but Jack’s guide was pointing him to a small building on the far northern edge of the village. It was distanced from its nearest neighbors and nestled into a thicket of Rowan trees. Jack descended to the ground behind the cabin, landing in the dew wet grass. A moment later Corbin was behind him. 

All was quiet save for a few early bird calls. Corbin slipped his hand into Jack’s. The sky was greying overhead and in the growing light their glamour was fading. Even now he could see the shadow of his son’s wings and dark hair. Trying to sneak up on the prince was a very stupid idea, especially with a failing spell. The prince was a mage of great talent. Jack made the decision to be bold. He dismissed the remnants of the invisibility spell, leaving only the protective shield. His shield would not hold out long against a concentrated attack but it should buy them enough time to explain their presence. 

Holding his son’s hand he took a deep breath and walked the last few steps to the front of the cabin. He raised his hand to knock, but the door opened before his knuckles touched wood. The prince stood framed in the doorway, clad in full armor and helm, a pair of long daggers gleaming in his hands and the green glow of his seidr wrapping him in its power. He looked down at the pair in puzzlement. Jack reached out to the prince and he abruptly disappeared. At the same moment Corbin yelped and Jack spun on his heel to see his son caught in the prince’s grasp, a dagger at his throat. 

“Loki!” Jack yelled. “What the hell are you doing?” He looked at Corbin, whose aqua eyes were wide in fear. “Corby don’t fight him. It will be OK son.”

“Who are you, what are you doing here and how do you know my name?” Loki snarled. He was shivering in the cold predawn air, barefoot and clad only in thin pajamas.

“Loki please, let him go, we mean you no harm.” Jack spoke softly, he could see Loki was very angry. “I’m Jack, Jack Linden, we met on Sakaar.”

Loki looked confused. “I don’t know any place called Sakaar.” But even as he said it his brow furrowed. “Why do you come creeping up to my door demon?” 

“Papa!” Corby wailed in terror as the blade pressed against his neck.

“Damn you!” Jack swore. “Deny me if you must, but for fuck's sake Loki, let our son go.”


	2. No, they won't be home tonight.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bargaining, talking and a visitor.

Loki narrowed his eyes at Jack. “I have no son. Why do you tell me these lies? What do you hope to gain?” The boy’s crying was annoying him. “Be silent, whelp.” He said giving Corbin a shake.

Jack was both terrified and enraged, his son was in danger and he was helpless to remove him from that threat. His protections had been for a startled outburst of magic from Loki, not a physical attack. Certainly not this hostage situation. Instinct screamed for him to launch himself at the prince. But Jack knew he’d not get farther than one step forward before the knife would open Corbin’s throat. He knew how fast Loki was, he’d fought him before. He wrested control of his emotions and used the only card he had left. He spread his hands wide, showing he held no weapon, dropped to his knees and began the rite of invocation.

“Loki, Trickster, Lord of Chaos, Winter’s Lover, I offer my worship, my adoration, that you, my god, may hear my request. Lie-Smith see the truth, I beg mercy from you. Changer, change this path. Please Loki, spare my son’s life.”

Jack could feel the ritual prayer drawing strength from him and transferring it to the agitated prince, carrying the truth of his plea. His heart beat faster. If Loki didn’t listen to him, he would have to try to take on his god. Jack readied the raw magic that might bind Loki’s knife hand long enough for Corbin to squirm away.

Loki watched his show of submission, then the prince’s eyes widened as heard Jack’s words and felt the power transfer from one of his worshipers. He lowered the blade and gave the boy a push toward the demon.

Jack rose to his feet, wrapping his son in his arms and then enveloping him in his wings, soothing him while he sobbed. He nuzzled Corbin’s hair.

“It’s alright little bird, papa has you. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” Jack glared at Loki over the boy’s shoulder.

Loki shook his head, sighed in exasperation. He gave Jack a level look. “You better come in and explain yourself, demon. Thor will be here shortly and I’d rather know what is going on before he gets involved.”

Jack thought about trying for a quick getaway. He’d be opening them both up to attack. Even if they managed to elude the prince it was already dawn and his illusions were weaker in the light of day. The guards would see them and would hear any alarm Loki raised. Jack didn’t know if he could breach the barrier around the settlement a second time. Loki seem willing to listen now. Reluctantly he followed the prince back into his cabin, his arm still around his traumatized son’s shoulder.

The cabin appeared strange to Jack, it was mostly one room and clearly served for kitchen, bedroom and sitting area. A closed off alcove was likely the bathroom. He’d expected fine furniture, delicate fabrics, and the magpie scatter of Loki’s belongings that had marked his quarters in Sakaar. Instead the interior was plain and the furniture looked to be chosen for its sturdiness rather than esthetic appeal. True the bed was unmade, but even there the blankets were woven of undyed wool and the sheets were coarse muslin. There were only a few books on a heavy table, no pictures graced the walls, and simple clothing in dull greys and browns hung from hooks. The wood floor was bare except for a sheepskin in front of the heavy stone and metal stove.

Loki opened the stove door, stirred the embers with a poker and tossed in a small log from a pile next to the hearth. He filled a teakettle from the sink and placed it on the stove before turning to Jack and Corbin and motioning them to the two chairs by the table. Jack placed them side by side and they sat down, his son leaning into his side. Loki pulled up the only other seat, a heavy branch-work armchair. Jack noticed an engraved silver band around one slender ankle before Loki tucked his feet under as he curled into the chair.

“Now prior to my brother's arrival, tell me why I shouldn’t turn you both over to be imprisoned for invading the sovereign nation of New Asgard.” Loki said.

“You say you don’t know a place called Sakaar, but that is the planet where I met you and Thor and the Hulk.” Jack paused, wondering just how much information to give Loki. “It was ruled by an insane creature, an Elder called the Grandmaster, who kept Thor and the Hulk as fighters in his games.” He decided against mentioning that Loki was the Elder’s lover.

Loki shook his head. “So you say, but I have no memory of such a place. Even were it so, how is the little monster my get? He calls you ‘papa’.”

Jack growled. “I don’t care if you are my god, I won’t have you insult my son, you bastard. He is no monster. His name is Corbin. As for how you are his father, you fucked me, I got pregnant.”

Loki blinked at that. He took in Jack’s lean build, flat chest, five day growth of beard. “You are not male? You’re female?”

“I’m both.” Jack answered. “Though I didn’t know it until I conceived. All the female parts are internal.”

“Even if I concede the physical possibility, you’re not really my type.” Loki said with disdain.

“Let me guess, you go for big buff blondes.” Jack countered, sarcastically.

“What the hel are you implying?” Loki said, swinging his feet down to the floor and starting to stand up.

Corbin squealed in fear and Jack pulled him close. “Nothing.” He said softly trying to cool Loki’s anger. “It’s just the opposite of me, that’s all. I’m a little skinny brunette. OK, maybe more average height then little...” Jack trailed off. He better get a leash on his tongue. He couldn’t put his son in danger of Loki’s vicious temper. But he sure hit a nerve there. He’d file it away till later.

“The boy,” Loki said it like an insult. “Is obviously too old to be my son. I am aware of where I was fourteen years ago. I was on Asgard. Not at this Sakaar you speak of.”

“He’s only twelve. There’s a time differential.” Jack explained. “I think because of the space portals, the worm holes, or maybe it’s a kind of pocket universe. I’m not really sure, physics isn’t my thing. All I know is that time on Sakaar varies from time in the rest of the galaxy, and it’s not a constant.” He could see the doubt on Loki’s face. “Why would I make up a story this stupid? Look at him Loki, look at Corbin and tell me you can’t see yourself in him.”

“A passing resemblance is no indicator of parentage.” Loki said. Thunder boomed across the sky. “I do believe that Thor has finally woken up.”

“Corbin.” Jack said. “Show him your Jötun blood.”

Loki started at Jack’s words. “How did you know?”

Loki stopped speaking as Corbin shifted to his only other form, his pale skin turned the blue of a summer sky, the raised kin markings showing light as clouds. His blue-green eyes became a deep red violet under lashes wet with tears. Unlike Jack, when Corbin shifted he retained his wings and his long feathered tail, which was lashing in agitation.

“He’s not my father.” Corbin snuffled. “He’s mean. I hate him. I want to go home, papa.” He turned away from Loki and buried his head in Jack’s shoulder.

“I wish we could little bird, I wish we could.” Jack stroked his back, ignoring Loki. They had done their best. Their fate lay in the hands of the Trickster. Lightning flashed outside the door.

Loki stood up abruptly. “Don’t move. Don’t speak. Either of you. I’ll take care of Thor.” He moved his fingers in complicated patterns and Jack felt the snake slithering of Loki’s seidr fall over his skin. The room became blurred as though he were looking through slightly rippled glass. 

“LOKI!” Thor’s voice boomed.

Loki crossed the room and opened the door.

“I’m here brother. There is no need to shout. I assure you my hearing is superb.”

“What happened? Are you alright? I was sleeping when I felt your…” Thor paused, clearly searching for a word.

“Outburst? Panic? Fit of madness?” Loki supplied with scathing tones. “It was a nightmare Thor. Or a forgotten memory.”

“You used your magic Loki.”

“I’m allowed to practice my seidr. At least the simpler spells. Or is that to be forbidden me also?”

“Of course not. I was concerned brother.” Thor picked up something from the ground. Even with the visual distortion Jack could see it was one of Corbin’s feathers, which dislodged when Loki grabbed him. Jack drew a shaky breath.

“What is this?” Thor asked.

“I would assume it is a feather Thor. There are ravens about.” Loki said in a bored tone.

“It’s too big for a raven.” Thor said turning the feather over.

“Then an eagle. If you want an ornithology lesson go bother one of the locals.” Loki turned away. “I’m fine, the cabin is fine. I didn’t destroy anything. I simply tried to bring the ghost of a memory to life, it was upsetting.”

“What do you think you remembered?” Thor asked.

“A place, called I think, Sakaar.” Loki glanced over his shoulder at Thor his expression one of indifference. “And a name, Jack something.”

“Do not bother yourself about such things, Loki. I’m certain it was nothing.” Thor said, placing his hand on the back of Loki’s neck and pulling his brother into an embrace, their foreheads pressed together. “The past is gone. Let it go, Loki. This is our life now. Look to the future brother.”

Loki returned the gesture. “Yes Thor. I agree. We must look to the future.” Jack wondered if that was a mocking tone he heard in Loki’s voice.

Thor slapped Loki on the back. “Good, good! Will you join me this afternoon? I have a few hours away from the council and I’m going fishing.”

“Perhaps, send me word later.” Loki said pulling away from Thor and going inside the cabin. The teakettle started whistling. 

“This afternoon Loki.” Thor said, as his brother shut the door in his face.

Jack heard the sizzle of lighting again and Thor was gone. A rumble of thunder followed his departure.

Loki dissolved the glamour with a flick of his fingers and took the kettle from the stove. He busied himself making tea. Jack watched the familiar routine. Three cups he placed on the table along with a sturdy iron teapot. Its ancient Japanese design was at odds with the simple heavy clay cups and the commercial packet of tea he emptied into the pot. Loki took his seat and stared at the pot while the tea seeped.

“He was lying. He knows of Sakaar and he knows your name.” Loki said. “Why would he lie if it was unimportant?”

“I assume you never got my emails, or phone messages or even the letter I sent?” Jack asked.

“No. Do you see a computer here? I’m isolated for my own good.” Loki kept looking at the teapot as though it would give him answers.

“Someone’s gatekeeping. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Thor. He hated me on Sakaar and we only met twice.”

“He’s over protective.” Loki said. “He means well.”

“Is that what the shackle’s for?” Jack asked. “To protect you? From your own magic? Why?”

“Don’t blame him for that. I made it.” Loki answered, taking his gaze from the teapot to look at Jack. “Why, is none of your business. Suffice it to say, that should I wish, I can remove it at any time.” 

Jack held his tongue and decided to wait for Loki to continue. Loki instead rose and poured the tea. Jack stopped him at the second cup. 

“Corbin doesn’t need any. He’s fallen asleep.” Jack explained. “He flew all night, and helped me with the spells to get past your security. Will you allow me to lay him down on the rug?” 

“Put him on the bed.” Loki said sipping his tea. “I’m inclined to believe you.”

Jack carried his son, still in his Jötun form to the bed. He removed his leather boots and pulled the blankets over him. Loki came and looked down on the sleeping child. 

“He has Laufey’s markings here and here.” Loki said pointing. “And Farbauti’s as well. These.” Loki paused. He traced a set of lines on Corbin’s cheek. “These are my own.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of back story. Not going to go into it at length.


	3. The snow falls hard and don't you know?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Accomplished liars and the truth. Jack and Loki talk.

They took their tea outside and sat on the steps. The morning air was chill and Loki had donned boots and a cloak. Jack leaned back against the railing and looked Loki over. He was thinner than Jack remembered, and there were circles under his eyes. But the way he held the teacup was achingly familiar. Three damn days, Jack told himself. They’d only known each other for three days, thirteen years ago. You loved Finlos and you couldn’t make a go of that. They didn’t even like each other. It was stupid for his heart to hurt at the way Loki’s long fingers wrapped around the heavy clay cup. To remember how those fingers felt on his skin, tangled in his hair. Jack swallowed the lump in his throat and looked away. 

He felt Loki’s gaze, heard his sigh and the soft whisper of cloth as he moved. 

“Why bring the boy here?” Loki asked wearily.

Jack thought of all the things he could say, all the lies he had told himself as he hunted down Loki. 

“He’s your blood, royal blood, and that needs to be acknowledged. Also I thought he had a right to meet his father.” Jack said. All of it truth, though only a partial truth.

“Is this the kingdom you hoped he’d inherit?” Loki said gesturing at the bleak settlement. “This royal palace?” He waved his hand at the cabin.

“It’s better than what we have at the moment. Which is two packs of camping gear and a couple of hundred dollars’ worth of kroners.” Jack took a sip of the rapidly cooling tea. “But his heritage is only part of it. Corbin is a sorcerer, Loki and he’s going to be more powerful than I am. He needs a teacher. I’ve taught him what I could, but I was never trained myself. Everything I know, I learned through trial and error. You? You’re a master of magic. You have the education to help him make the most of his talent. Where could he find a more accomplished mentor?”

Loki put down his cup and rubbed circles on his temples. “I find all this a bit much to take in. That I have a son is difficult enough, but that it was by you? Why can’t I remember? How long were we together?”

Jack glanced back at Loki, worn out as he seemed, he was still beautiful. Jack wondered for a moment if he should make up a long and tragic romance. As much as he wanted that to have happened, this was too important to lie about. 

“Three days, Loki. It wasn’t a relationship, it was a temporary spate of horniness. We fucked a grand total of two times.” Jack met Loki’s gaze. “You left me behind on Sakaar when you and your brother made your escape. It’s no wonder you don’t remember me. I meant nothing to you.” Jack couldn’t keep the hurt out of his voice.

“Yet you worship me as though you were an ignorant mortal.” Loki said.

“Yeah. I do.” Jack dropped his eyes, and started picking at a loose sliver of wood on the step. 

“Why?” Loki asked. “I’m no god.”

“Uh huh. That’s why you get power from the prayers of your followers, ‘cause you’re not a god.” Jack shook his head. “I don’t just worship you Loki. I’m the high priest. I founded your church on Sakaar. There were five congregations and at least two splinter groups on the planet. Several of my flock including an under priest moved off world. So there is at least one church left somewhere out there.” Jack gestured toward the brightening sky. 

“High priest?” Loki cracked a smile. “How much of your religion did you actually believe? How much was political expediency?”

“Maybe ten percent of it.” Jack grinned back at Loki, not bothering to clarify which. “Sakaar was falling apart, and they needed a focus to rebuild. The church gave them a focus. It took a trickster god to dispose the evil tyrant. People knew you. A little gilding on the story and a couple of tweaks to make history align to doctrine helped them to remember you were the one responsible for their freedom.”

Loki nodded, aware of the power of propaganda. “Why not choose Thor? If I know him, he’d be in the forefront of any revolution.” 

“I don’t like your brother.” Jack said. “I wasn’t going to found a warrior religion that glorified killing or told people what to think. I founded one that taught them how to think for themselves.” 

“You’re one of the few who hasn’t fallen to Thor’s charms.”   
Loki tilted his head and smirked. “So you founded a religion that stressed critical thinking, which was based on a myth you created?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Jack shrugged. “It worked. If you tell people that they are intelligent enough to discern the truth, they won’t hunt for the lie it conceals.”

“I’m impressed, that was a remarkably audacious con. With such prestige and power,” Loki asked, “why would you leave Sakaar?”

“The Grandmaster returned.” Jack replied. “I got word from a trader that he was on his way back. I didn’t think he’d appreciate a religion based on his downfall. I told my followers to get the hell off the planet or go into hiding. We burned the churches, and destroyed all the records. Then I took Corbin and left. There was no way I was going to let our son fall into the hands of that sadistic bastard.” Jack shuddered remembering the terror he felt for the Grandmaster. 

Loki stared into the distance where the sea was reflecting the morning sun. His brow was furrowed. 

“The Grandmaster…” Loki paused, turned to look at Jack with a searching gaze. “He was a powerful sorcerer… wasn’t he? And… what more?” Loki raised his voice, his face twisted as though in pain. “What aren’t you telling me?” 

Jack pressed back against the railing at Loki’s sudden intensity. 

“Not a sorcerer, an Elder of the universe. He played games with people, like they were toys or pieces for him to move on a board. Killing games.” Jack nervously licked his lips. “And sex games, mind games. He trapped people in their desires, warped them with drugs and drink and fear. You were good at… dealing with him.” 

“He's a lunatic, but he can be amenable.” Loki said in a wondering voice. “I said that to Thor. He was in prison? But I was a guest? Free to roam, but not free to leave.”   
Loki’s eyes narrowed, he rose to his feet and loomed over Jack. “Don’t tell me partial truths, demon. All of it. Now, or I’ll banish you to the netherworld from whence you crawled.”

“That would be Chicago.” Jack answered, annoyed at the threat. “You want the truth? You know how power attracts a mage? The Grandmaster is unimaginable power cloaked in the form of a man. A really hot man. He rocks that sugar daddy look. You were fucking him in exchange for a place at his side. Maybe you were even a little in love with him. I don’t know. I do know he was fascinated with you.” Jack couldn’t keep the envy from his voice. 

He added vindictively "He did some pretty sick things to you. And you went back for more." As soon as the words left his mouth Jack regretted say them. 

Loki stepped back and abruptly sat on the railing, he grasped a porch post, his face greyed and his eyes went blank. The air grew oppressive with gathering power. Loki’s head fell to his chest and he tumbled forward.

Jack scrambled to his feet, grabbed Loki as he fainted and wrapped him in his arms and wings. He poured the last of his waning magic into a shield between them and the cabin, trying to protect his sleeping child. The world went white and he felt, rather than heard the explosion of wild magic. He saw a glimpse of sky and flying splintered wood and then nothing at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack gets a clue why Thor is keeping things from Loki.


	4. The winds of Thor are blowing cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorting things out.

“Papa! Papa!”

Corbin appeared against a sky of bright grey clouds, his face a mask of fear, his wings mantled over Jack. His hands pressed down Jack’s chest, so hard Jack couldn’t seem to catch his breath.

“Are you hurt?” Jack managed to pant out.

The warmth of Corbin’s magic was washing over Jack’s ribs and pooling in his lungs. Jack was drowning in it. He tried to push his son away so he could breathe.

“No Papa! Don’t!” Tears were running down Corbin’s face. 

Jack tried to sit up to comfort his son, but he couldn’t move, his shirt was snagged on something and it jabbed him in his back.

“Papa don’t move!”

Corbin’s voice was fading away and Jack was so tired, he just needed to close his eyes for a moment. Not moving sounded like a good idea. He shut his eyes. Even the need to breathe receded.

“Don’t leave me!”

His son’s wail of terror jerked Jack back to consciousness. He coughed and pain tore through his chest. He turned his head and spit a thick cloying liquid from his mouth. The heavy copper taste of blood coated his tongue. He drew a choked breath, struggling for air. The air reeked of ozone, and the grey clouds were boiling black moving with unnatural speed overhead. 

“I won’t leave.” Jack said or thought he said. It was so hard to think. He closed his eyes to concentrate and he heard another voice, a deep anguished voice calling. 

“Brother! Brother can you hear me? Are you hurt?”

Which Jack thought odd, as his younger siblings were dead and his older brother was an old man with a thin quavering tone, not this robust rumble that echoed the thunder booming across the sky. He tried to puzzle it out, it was somehow more important than the fact that he was now underwater. And it was raining. Raining underwater, which also didn’t make sense.

“Papa, stay with me.

He forced his eyes back open to see Corbin white faced and shaking and outlined in the blue-green glow of his power. Water was running over his head and down his back and dripping off his wings. Jack shivered in the cold. Corbin would get sick if he didn’t get out of this storm. He tried to tell his son to go back inside but there was nothing in his lungs to speak with. He coughed again, inhaled and the damp air burned like fire inside his lungs. It took too much energy to scream and he let the breath go with a shudder. The second breath wasn’t as painful, less fire and more like trying to breathe shards of glass. There were two voices now in a low conversation, Jack thought maybe city guards. Had there been a wreck? Had he crashed their ship? 

“Help him!” He heard Corbin shouting. “Help my Papa!” 

The silhouette of a man, a huge man loomed over Corbin. There was something familiar about him, something dangerous. He had to warn Corbin, protect him. 

“Shit!” The man said and knelt down beside Jack’s son.

“Corbin run!” Jack managed to spit out.

He struggled to sit up. A heavy hand pinned him to the earth.

“Don’t move.” The deep voice said in surprisingly gentle tones. “You’ve got a piece of wood through your chest.”

Thor, Jack’s stunned mind provided. What was Thor doing back on Sakaar?

“I believe it’s one of the railings.” A lean man crouched next to Jack, and extended his hands over Corbin’s. “You can tell by those carved birds on the side. I never really liked that design, it reminded me of those damned ravens.”

Cool power slithered into Jack’s chest and intertwined with Corbin’s warm touch. Loki, Jack identified. He had to warn Loki too. The Grandmaster was coming back and they had to get off Sakaar before he returned.

“Now Thor.” Loki said.

The big man reached down and ripped Jack’s heart out of his chest. Jack had a moment to wonder that it wasn’t round and soft, but long and thin and jagged on both ends. He supposed that was because it had been broken too many times.

“Foolish little demon.” Was the last thing he heard, before he fell into a darkness that swirled with currents of warmth and cold.

******

Jack woke to the low tones of two men’s voices and the scent of coffee and cooking bacon. He opened his eyes to see wooden beams spanned by age darkened boards that reflected a soft yellow glow. There was a warmth tucked into his side and the familiar brush of feathers against his arm. He started to turn on his side and hissed at the sudden stab of pain in his ribs.

“Ah, I believe he’s awakened.” Loki’s voice rose into the normal range.

“Yes.” Was Thor’s noncommittal answer. 

Jack slowly sat up. His chest was tight with the feeling of healing. Every breath brought an ache to his left side. His head throbbed with the remnants of a concussion and there was a stiffness in his right leg that told of a broken bone on the mend. He shifted his wings and found all the tears in the membrane that were piecing themselves back together. He could tell that three of the slender finger bones had been fractured, but they were almost completely healed.

He looked down at Corbin, who was still fast asleep. There were circles under the boy’s eyes that spoke of exhaustion. Jack stroked his son’s hair back from his forehead and then bent down to place a kiss on the pale brow. He glanced over at the brothers.

Thor was busy at the stove, a huge stack of pancakes on the plate beside him gave witness to his labors. As Jack watched he added two more to the stack, then turned some bacon in a second pan. Loki sat at the table cradling a cup of tea in his hands, a slight frown marring his features. Jack swung his feet off the bed, and gingerly stood up. He was glad to see that their packs had been retrieved and he’d been dressed in his sleeping pants. Not because of any problems with nudity but because it was cold enough in the cabin and he didn’t think he was up to all the bending required to get dressed.

The sky outside the cabin was the soft light of morning and the clouds had dispersed. But there was a heavy layer of snow covering the ground.

“How long was I out?” Jack asked.

“One day.” Thor answered. “It’s been one day since you invaded our lands and threatened the life of my brother.”

“I never threatened...” Jack started before Loki cut him off.

“Thor.” Loki said in an annoyed voice. “You can’t protect me from my past. I’d rather know the truth than live a lie.”

“Even if it costs you your sanity?” Thor asked.

“It didn’t this time and I don’t see why it would another.” Loki answered him.

“You destroyed the porch and half the trees around your own house because this idiot brought up Sakaar.” Thor growled, glaring at Jack. “And that was with most of your seidr restrained.”

Loki didn’t reply, looking out the window instead.

“May I have a cup of coffee before you kill me?” Jack asked Thor.

Thor gave him a surly look and nodded toward the pot.

“If I intended to kill you, you would already be in Niflhel.” 

“That’s a comforting thought.” Jack sniped. “I could say hi to all your…

“Jack.” Loki warned, gazing at him until he dropped his eyes.

Jack took a cup from the rack and filled it, trying to avoid standing too close to the upset thunder god. He carried his coffee over to the table and sat beside Loki. He drank the drink of the Gods and waited for the caffeine to jumpstart his brain. He really didn’t need to start a fight with Thor while he could barely walk.

Thor placed four plates on the table. He glanced over at the sleeping boy and loaded food onto three of them. He sat down across from Jack. Jack couldn’t help noticing that Thor looked more weary then angry. They ate in silence. Jack was grateful for the food but there were undercurrents at the table that he didn’t understand. The brothers kept glancing at each other and then over at him when they thought he wasn’t paying attention. Loki shook his head and Thor frowned. Thor canted his head at Corbin and raised his eyebrows and Loki shrugged. Finally Jack had had enough. He put down his fork. 

“Can we conduct this conversation in English or Kree or something? ‘Cause I’m getting tired of the charades.”

“Do you not know how to keep your nose out of the affairs of your betters?” Thor grumbled.

“Not really.” Jack answered. “Especially not when their affairs are about me and my kid.”

Loki reached into a pocket dimension and pulled out a scrap of leather. He dropped it on the table in front of Jack.

“Put this on, take your meal outside and don’t come back in until I call you.” Loki said.

Thor made a sound of protest but Loki shushed him. 

“This isn’t about you Thor.” Loki said

Jack picked it up. It was a simple black leather collar trimmed with silver. He’d last worn it on Sakaar. Right after Loki had carved his mark into Jack’s skin. Jack froze and his eyes blurred with tears. He fastened the leather around his throat with shaking hands, wordlessly picked up his plate and headed outside. He stepped carefully over the debris that still partially blocked the path, shivering in the bitter cold, his bare toes already going numb.

Jack shifted his form so that the temperature was bearable. He was no longer afraid of his full ice demon body. It wasn’t a pretty shape but the People weren’t the monsters he had once thought they were. Every detail of this body was designed to stay alive on a planet that held only a razor thin chance at survival. The icy air now felt mild to him and the snow comfortably cool under his bare feet. The aches of his healing body vanished with the transformation. He brushed the snow from the downed trunk of a rowan tree, sat cross legged and finished his breakfast as he had been commanded. He lapped up the last of his coffee before it froze, his long tongue cleaning the inside of the clay cup. Not the most pleasant way to drink but it worked. He stood up and looked toward the cabin.

Loki and Thor were in an impassioned argument. The green of Loki’s magic wrapped them in a bubble of privacy that kept them from waking Corbin and cut off any chance of Jack eavesdropping. He set down his dishes and decided to explore around the cabin. Thor was right about the damage. The first group of rowan trees were shattered from the blast of uncontrolled magic and the porch was only a mass of broken wood. The front of the cabin was intact because of Jack’s shielding spell and the fact that he’d tackled Loki off the porch in an effort to get him away from Corbin before his seidr lashed out. The heavy construction of the building undoubtedly helped.

Around the back Jack found an old water pump and a wooden horse trough. Jack brushed off the snow and found a thin layer of ice. Underneath, the trough was filled with clean water, that to Jack’s sensitive nose smelled only of pine needles. He decided to make use of his time. It had been almost a week since his last bath and the trough was large enough to accommodate him. A few minutes hunt in the trees and he’d gathered enough moss to serve as a makeshift sponge. He stripped out of the pants, clambered into the icy water and scrubbed off the weeks travel. The water felt good on his leathery white hide and he dunked his head under to rise off his hair and the quills that now covered his scalp. He was just finishing up shaving off the bristles that his beard took in this form when he heard the cabin door open and close. Thor strode from between the trees following Jack’s trail through the snow. He stop short at the sight of his altered body. Jack glanced his way and continued shaving, trimming his sideburns with the knife he’d made of ice frozen to steel hardness.

“By the Norns you’re an ugly bastard.” Thor said.

Jack checked his appearance in the reflection of the water, dispelled the knife, stood up and stepped from the trough. The water sheeted down his body and dripped from his skin. He considered shaking off and splattering Thor with the remains of his bath and thought better of it. He dried himself off with a brush of his ice magic. 

“I assume you came out here to do more than compliment my appearance.” Jack said, baring his inch long fangs at Thor.

“If this is how you truly look it’s no wonder you mask it with a more human seeming.” Thor said with a sneer.

Jack went for the throat. “Loki likes it. At least he did when we fucked.” Which was a total lie. Jack had only shifted his skin color and body temperature and that unconsciously.

Thor’s response was a wordless roar that accompanied a swift rush across the snow. It would have been more gratifying if it didn’t also include him pulling his monstrous axe and lightning flashing across the intervening space. Jack leapt, his wings clawing for the sky. The axe swept under his feet and nicked his tail. He yelped and beat his wings harder trying for altitude, which was not his best idea. A bolt exploded over his hastily flung out shield and drove him to the ground. Thor towered over him and raised his axe.

“Thor, if you continue to damage my property, I will become rather annoyed.” Loki said leaning out the back window of the cabin. 

“He’s an impertinent beast.” Thor snapped, lowering the axe.

“True.” Loki said. “But he’s my impertinent beast and I will discipline him for it. I don’t know why you allow his words to upset you.”

“He’s jealous.” Jack said and immediately wanted to bite off his own tongue as Thor raised the axe again. Jack scrambled to his feet and backed toward Loki.

“He doesn’t have any reason to be.” Loki drawled in a sultry voice that made Jack shiver far more than his fear of Thor could. “Leave the little demon alone, Brother.” 

That last word was a verbal caress that Jack could not ignore. He turned and stared at Loki as Thor swept past him with a smirk. Thor’s hand clasped behind Loki’s neck and he pulled him down for a kiss that was anything but fraternal. Loki for his part returned the embrace with enthusiasm. Jack stood in shock.

“Well fuck!” Jack swore as the brothers broke apart.

“There is nothing to worry about you idiot.” Loki said smiling at Thor.

“I don’t want you hurt, and I don’t trust him.” Thor said.

“Jack come here.” Loki leaned on the windowsill and beckoned Jack over.

Jack reluctantly walked up to them.

Loki frowned. “What is the problem with you and clothes?” 

“I was taking a bath.” Jack said and added. “It’s traditionally done without clothes.”

“Of course.” Loki said with a wicked smile and Jack felt his magic enfold him. But instead of clothing him, Loki forced the change back into his fully human shape. “I wouldn’t want to interfere with tradition.”

Jack wrapped his arms around himself shivering and naked in the biting wind. He tried to grasp his own magic but Loki’s power blocked him. 

“Damn you!” He said and jumped toward the window. Thor fisted a hand in his hair dragging him back.

“Now Jack. “ Loki said grinning. “Behave yourself. Answer some questions like a good little demon and I’ll let you in before you freeze your balls off.”

Thor laughed and Jack kicked backwards, succeeding in bruising his heel on Thor’s armored knee. Thor jerked his arm up and pulled Jack off his feet. Jack grasped his broad wrist in both hands to keep from losing a good part of his scalp. 

“Ow! Fuck! Alright! Put me down! I surrender!” Thor lowered him back to the snow covered ground, but kept his grip on Jack’s hair.

Loki shook his head. “I see you haven’t learned a thing in… how long has it been for you?”

“Thirteen years.” Jack answered.

“I thought motherhood would have at least taught you to think first and speak afterward.” Loki sighed. But a smile creased the corners of his mouth. “You’ll have to be retrained.”

“The questions, please?” Jack begged, his feet and hands were burning with the cold, his eyes tearing and his nose was starting to run.

“Thor is worried that you mean me harm little demon. Do you Jack? Do you mean to do me any harm?”

“Of course not, my lord.” Jack tried to turn his head to look at Thor and stopped at the tug on his scalp. “I worship you, you are my god. Besides you own me.” Jack touched his collar. 

“See brother, the beast knows his place.” Loki said.

“What of his son?” Thor said. “Where is his place?”

“Leave my son out of this.” Jack growled. “He’s not to be involved in what I choose to do.”

Loki looked at Thor. “The boy is mine also Brother. Don’t forget that. His place is at my side. More so than even yours.”

“You are certain he is your blood?” Thor asked. “Couldn’t he be another’s get and this creature is foisting him off on you?”

“Thor. I know my own. No one could long fool me about that. Especially an untaught hedge mage like Jack. I’ve checked the boy most carefully. He is as his mother claims.”

Jack's teeth were chattering. “Is that all? ‘Cause I’m kinda freezing out here.” He said.

“No.” Loki said. “It is not all. Apologize for your rude behavior to Thor.”

“My rude behavior? He started by insulting me!”

“Thor?” 

“He is an ugly bastard in his true form.” Thor stated stubbornly.

“True form?” Jack said. “What the hell is that? This is my true form, that was my true form, the one between is my true form. It’s all me. Loki tell him.”

“He wouldn’t understand Jack.” Loki said. “No one who is not a shapeshifter understands. Nonetheless he shouldn’t have insulted you and you should not have been rude. Let him go, Thor so you can both apologize to each other.”

Loki folded his arms and waited.

Thor released Jack who turned to him and said. “I’m sorry I was rude and mentioned that Loki and I fucked each other silly.”

Thor growled and spat out “I’m sorry I called you an ugly bastard simply because you look hideous.”

Loki chortled.

“Now that we’re all friends, Jack get back inside and put on some clothes.”

Jack needed no more encouragement and raced around the building and bolted inside. He was standing in front of the stove, digging through his pack when he heard Loki tell Thor.

“Brother, don’t work too hard today. There are others who can take over part of the burden of rebuilding Asgard. The people are becoming too dependent on you. Do as the Valkyrie advises and tell them to sort out their own petty problems.” 

Jack couldn’t hear Thor’s reply but he caught Loki’s almost whispered, “And I, you.” He quickly pulled on a pair of pants. 

Loki shut the window and returned to the table where he refilled his teacup. Jack slipped on a shirt, it gaped open in the back.

“Can I?” Jack gestured to his missing wings and tail.

“No.” Loki answered. “You take up less room this way.”

Jack pouted and sat down to pull on his socks and sandals. “Because that’s important. Don’t want to take up too much room. Sorry to inconvenience you.”

“You do inconvenience me, Jack. You are a major inconvenience.”

Corbin yawned and sat up in bed. “Why?” Corbin asked, “is papa an inconvenience?”

Jack didn’t answer, still sulking. Let Loki talk his way out of that one.

“Because he insists on fighting with my brother and I don’t wish to referee their arguments.” Loki said.

“Oh” said Corbin with a shrug. “He’s always like that. Papa and Hilja, Daddy’s wife, argued all the time. And he fought with Daddy about the church, but not as much as he fought with the under priests or the deacons.” 

“Hilja is a gold digging bitch.” Jack said petulantly. “And doctrine is important. It shouldn’t be influenced by the state or the desires of those trying to grab power in the church.”

Corbin quirked an eyebrow, looking both older than his years and way too much like Loki, who was wearing an identical expression. They exchanged a look of mutual understanding, and Loki smiled at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of Thorki in passing. More to follow. Jack got kicked off the adults table for being mouthy.


	5. They're wearing steel that's bright and true

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conversation and a few simple truths.

Loki lent Jack a shirt that wasn’t slit for wings, a sweater and a pair of boots that were too big for him. Jack stuffed an extra pair of socks in the toes to keep them on. While Corbin showered and dressed Loki laid out his plans to deal with Jack and his son. 

“Since he needs to learn to control his magic, I’m sending Corbin to my old teacher for the basics. He’s used to children and he has two others under his tutorage.” Loki said. “Corbin will also need to know about Asgard and Aesir laws and customs as well so I’ll see that he is trained to take up his duties when he is of age.”

“What do you mean his duties?” Jack asked.

He’d hope to get Corbin training and maybe some financial help, he’d never considered that his son would become part of the settlement’s political structure. 

“I am my brother’s heir at the moment, which makes Corbin mine. I spoke with him about this yesterday. I explained his station. He’ll be educated to take up the mantle of a king of Asgard. Most likely he won’t have to fulfill that obligation. I have no doubt that Thor will, in time produce a bevy of heirs.” Loki smiled, to Jack's confusion. Everything he knew about Loki told him he would be upset at the thought of Thor's children taking his place as the next in line to rule. 

“However," Loki continued, "even as the heir of a prince he has to know how to rule, how to write and execute the laws, how to work with his judges and the council, such as they are. We are a small people now but in time Asgard’s population will grow and with it the responsibilities of its rulers.”

“What if he doesn’t want to become a prince?” Jack said. The whole thing sounded like the kind of work Jack had done his best to avoid for most of his life. He’d taken on the job of High Priest out of necessity, his personal beliefs and a desire to please Finlos. The day to day running of the church was a burden he’d been glad to leave behind, though he hated the circumstances that granted him freedom from a position that ill-suited him. He didn’t want to see his son trapped in the same kind of situation.

Loki gave Jack a level look. “It little matters what he wants, Jack. He is a prince. He was born to it. The question is will he be a foolish, self-centered failure or a man capable of ruling with fairness and discernment?”

“He’s my son Loki.” Jack said, his voice rising in agitation. “I’ve raised him his whole life. You’ve known of him for a couple of days. What right do you have to tell me what he is or is not? To decide his future for him.”

“The right of a father to his son and the right and responsibility of a prince and former king of Asgard to his heir and his people.” Loki said in a voice that brooked no argument. “He is my son also Jack, and I will not have him brought up in ignorance.”

Loki added in a softer voice. “I know you are worried, but I won’t take him from you Jack. He’s going to need you. It will be hard for him because he is different, of mixed blood and a mage. It may be harder for him than it was for me. He has to learn an entirely new culture and a new language. He will have to earn their respect. I can hope that the Aesir have become more accepting after their trials, but my people have long memories and tradition is one of the pillars of our society.”

“He has never had reason to be ashamed of who he is and I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone try to put him down.” Jack said heatedly. “I won’t subject him to the prejudice of a lot of hidebound fools in exchange for any throne.” 

“What throne?” Asked Corbin stepping from the bathroom and buttoning his shirt.

“The throne of Asgard.” Loki said. “I was explaining to your mother, that it may be you will rule Asgard someday.”

“It’s bearer, not mother.” Jack hissed sotto voice to Loki, who rolled his eyes.

“Oh.” said Corbin sitting on the bed to pull on his socks and boots. 

Jack turned to stare at him. 

Corbin noticed his startled look. “There’s what, five hundred people living here? It can’t be that hard. Daddy ran Sakaar and it’s a whole planet.”

“Asgard is very different from Sakaar, Corbin.” Loki said. “It is an ancient culture and there is much you will need to learn.”

“You don’t have to do this Little Bird.” Jack said, scowling at Loki. “I won’t let him force you into it.”

“Papa, you know Daddy was teaching me to run Sakaar. He expected me to take over from him. Or at least he did before Buteo was born.” Corbin frowned at the memory. “Even then he still wanted me to know how everything worked. I didn’t want to leave. I miss our home, I miss Daddy and Hilja and I even miss little Buteo.” 

Corbin sniffed and wiped his eyes on his shirtsleeve. “I don’t want to keep traveling and having nothing and no place that’s home. I was meant to run a world, Papa. Don’t take this away from me too.” Corbin’s voice became an anguished cry. 

Jack was at his son’s side in a second. “Corbin, I’m so sorry. You want this, Little Bird, I will do everything to make it possible. OK?” He rubbed Corbin’s back. “We’re staying, Corby. I won’t take you away. As long as you want to be here I will stay also.”

Corbin mastered his outburst in a matter of moments. He’d always been a reserved child, having his stepfather’s equanimity, rather than Jack’s more temperamental personality. 

Loki stood, pulled on his coat and opened the door. “Since that is settled, it is time to get going. I need to present Corbin formally at court and officially declare him to be my son.” 

As they filed out the door Corbin glanced at Jack, back at Loki and then piped up.

“You have to claim me as your child, if it’s to be official. Otherwise someone could use it as a loop hole. If you say son.” Corbin hopped back and forth between Loki’s and Jack’s footprints as they walked through the calf deep snow.

Loki looked back at him, puzzled.

“Papa, didn’t you tell him?” Corbin said.

“It hadn’t come up.” Jack said. “It wasn’t any of his business.”

“What isn’t?” Loki asked with a sharp glance at Jack.

“Papa is gender challenged. He calls me he, but I’m as much a girl as I am a boy.”

“I am not gender challenged. There isn’t a pronoun in English for a single sexed species. Nor in Sakaarian.”

“They.” Corbin suggested. “And you are too, that’s why you hate being called my mother.”

“They, sounds like you’re a committee.” Jack groused. “I’ve been a man my whole life and I’m not going to change that, just because I had you.”

Loki turned to watch his child, who was now taking giant steps to straddle both their trails. His tall, slender, androgynous child.

“Ah. I will be certain to phrase it that way, Corbin. Thank you for pointing that out.” He frowned at Jack. “It’s a good thing Corbin has better political sense then you do. One wrong word and the legitimacy of the succession could have been tied up in the courts for years.”

“Fine.” Jack snapped. “It’s not like I knew about this whole Prince of Assburg shit until ten minutes ago. Why would it matter what he..”

“See?” Interrupted Corbin.

“They,” Jack corrected, “have in their pants anyway?” 

“I find it hard to believe,” Loki said, lifting the bottom of her tunic lest it’s now longer hem be wet by the snow, “that you, who can change from a human into a distressingly spikey monster, has trouble with non-binary sexes.” 

Corbin whooped in approval at Loki’s change and she gave him a sweet smile.

“Fuck!” was Jack’s response.

“And it matters Jack,” Loki said, closing Jack’s mouth with a slender black nailed finger under his chin, “because someone opposing Corbin as my heir, will be looking for any means to negate their rule.” She continued striding across the snow and Jack scrambled to catch up. “Asgard is very set in her ways and there will be opposition enough to Corbin. It is best that we do not clothe them in any lies of convenience.” Her eyes narrowed with remembered pain. “Lies won’t stay secret forever and when the truth comes out it may cause terrible consequences.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Jack sees sex in a binary way, despite his own body and his experience on Sakaar with other non binary species. Blame his culture and fifty years of habit. I've been referring to Corbin in male pronouns as this story is told to a good extent from Jack's viewpoint. A short chapter as the last was quite long. Comments and critiques welcome.


	6. They carry news that must get through

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Legalities and power plays. Another riddle.

Loki changed back to male and his plain clothing became a suit of black and green leather armor as as they entered the village proper. Here the pathways had been shoveled clear of snow and they hurried to a large building that occupied the center of the village. Loki explained it was Thrudheim, Thor’s home, and also held the Throne Room and council chambers. Jack noted that unlike Loki’s dark little cottage, the homes and business were a mix of Traditional Norse and avant-garde architecture. They were built of a wood which glowed the golden in the late morning sun. Only a few were more than two stories and those were plainly constructed and facing the grey restless sea. Warehouses, Jack assumed. 

Corbin had moved to his side when they entered the town and Jack took their hand. The few people on the street gave Loki respectful bows, but Jack and especially Corbin, were the recipients of curious glances. Corbin, who still wasn’t used to being stared at pressed closer to Jack. Jack noticed that the villagers were headed toward the same building they were and it gave him a wary feeling of being followed. 

There was a line in front of the building and two guards were questioning people before directing them inside. Loki moved past the guards without pausing and Jack and Corbin trailed him inside. They walked down a short corridor and Loki ushered them into a small room. There were two sets of fancy clothing hung on the walls. He looked over Jack and Corbin and gave a small sigh.

“These aren’t the proper outfits, but the best that could be found on short notice.” Loki said. “I will make a formal announcement claiming Corbin as my child and stating him to be my heir. Thor will then ask you, Jack, to affirm that you are his mother and that I am his father. All you need to say is yes. Do you understand me?" Loki’s voice dropped lower and Jack could plainly hear the threat.

“Yes, my lord.” Jack answered. He’d think about obeying Loki. 

“Corbin,” Loki went on, “you will not be asked anything. Stay silent and look people straight in the eye. Remember you are a prince and were born to rule them. There will undoubtedly be an outcry from the council and the commoners. It may get ugly but do not respond to them. Think of it as the yapping of dogs. It’s up to Thor to quiet them down. Once he approves the announcement we will leave.”

“If they say anything against Corbin...” Jack started.

Loki’s hand was a blur and he grabbed Jack by the throat and slammed him against the wall. Jack's feet dangled a foot from the floor. 

“You will hold your tongue.” Loki hissed, his teeth bared, his hand closing enough that Jack was struggling for breath. “You will not fuck this up Jack. There is more than your pride at stake here. I cannot ensure Corbin’s safety until they are officially accepted into the royal house. Today is only the first step. The council will have to approve this and I don’t need you antagonizing them.”

Jack was clawing at his hand when a blast of power knocked Loki into the far wall. Jack dropped to his feet, panting. Corbin was standing in front of him and blue-green fire swirled around his hands.

“Don’t hurt my Papa!” Corbin said in a low frightened voice.

Anger burned in Loki’s eyes for a moment and then was replaced by grudging admiration. He chuckled.

“It’s high time you were taught to control your magic.” Loki said to Corbin. “You make the same mistake your mother does. Too much power for too little result.”

Jack put his hand on his child’s wing. “It’s alright, I’m fine Corbin. It’s OK. Please do not hit Loki again.” 

Corbin lowered his hands and turned to Jack. “How is it OK? He hurt you.”

“Loki is a little emphatic, that’s all.” Jack said. “See I’m not hurt. I’m tougher than that.” He pulled down the neck of the sweater to show Corbin his unmarked throat. “He just startled me.” Jack was the master of the glamor and not even Loki could see the fingerprints he’d bruised into Jack’s skin.

“I’ll keep my mouth closed for Corbin’s sake.” Jack said to Loki. The ‘the not for your sake’ hung heavy in the air.

Loki narrowed his eyes at Jack and then nodded. He motioned to the clothes. “Get dressed, I’ll be back for you shortly.”

They donned the clothing, Jack helping Corbin get the hastily modified tunic past their wings. Jack was angry to find that his tunic was overlong and cut to flare out over his hips. The layers that fell past his bared shoulders covered the top of his chest and added the impression of a hidden bustline. The style was decidedly feminine. Even the damn boots were heeled and styled to diminish the size of his feet. He was seething when Loki returned.

“This makes me look like a woman.” Jack snarled at Loki. 

Corbin watched them warily. 

“Corbin wait in the hall while I get your Papa ready.” Loki said.

Corbin looked at Jack who said. “Go Corby. We’ll be along in a minute.”

Corbin stepped outside. Loki closed the door and appraised Jack. 

“Not really.” Loki said and took Jack’s jaw in his hand and tilted his chin up. “Cosmetics will help though.”

He looked Jack in the eyes daring him to make another scene. Jack broke first, looking away and down. Loki moved his fingers and a small box appeared, opened itself and hovered in the air. Jack breathed in the scent of makeup and growled softly. 

Loki leaned forward and whispered in Jack’s ear. “Little demon, behave yourself and later I’ll beat you till you bleed." 

Jack’s heart stuttered and his face flushed hot and red. Loki stepped back and smiled like a hungry wolf. Jack was suddenly glad of the flared tunic as his pants became uncomfortably tight. He licked his lips and nodded.

"Now drop the glamor," Loki added, "no magic before the council.”

Loki applied the make up with deft strokes, smoothing out Jack’s complexion and covering the shadow of his beard, and the red marks on his throat. His eyes were painted next and then his mouth. The box disappeared and Loki produced a brush and some hairpins. Jack's hair was brushed back and pinned up off his face. Loki stepped back, adjusted the fit of the tunic with a few tugs, loosened the chain belt to fall lower on Jack's hips and nodded.

“You’ll do. Don’t touch anything.”

Jack glanced at the mirror and was startled. The reflection showed a creature that was neither male nor female. The makeup emphasized his eyes and mouth but the colors were so subtle it looked like he was wearing no cosmetics at all. The black and silver collar covered his Adam’s apple and matched the ebony tunic and silver belt. The hair pins sparkled with sapphires and diamonds. His strong features looked striking and fay rather than beautiful. That Loki had transformed him so without using a glamor amazed Jack. 

He followed Loki into the hall, where they picked up Corbin and proceeded into the crowded Throne room. The presentation itself was a short affair and the first official business. It went as Loki had predicted with the exception, that at the end of the presentation, Thor had unexpectedly asked Corbin;

“Do you believe you are worthy to be a prince of Asgard?”

“I am a prince of Asgard.” Corbin said with head held high. “I will be worthy to do the job of a prince, when I know the ways of my people and how to meet their needs. I am eager to learn to be as good and fair a ruler as you are, my king.”

Corbin’s cherubic smile was bestowed on King and audience alike. Thor couldn’t help returning the sweet expression with a broad grin.

“I see you have Loki's silver tongue.” Thor had chuckled.

Jack smirked inside, though he was careful to keep his face pleasantly neutral. Corbin’s little speech was pure Finlos’ manipulation. Corbin’s stepfather had indeed passed on his skills to their child.

They were dismissed after that final question and Loki led them to the home of his former teacher, Alfarin. Jack had expected a bent ancient wizard and was surprised to see a robust man in late middle age whose greying beard was trimmed short. It wasn’t until he turned that Jack saw his right leg was a prosthetic, elaborately carved with battle scenes.

Jack and Corbin were served a light lunch by one of the wide eyed apprentices, while Loki and Alfarin retired to another room to discuss Corbin’s magic training. When Loki was satisfied with the arrangements, they returned to Thrudheim, but went upstairs where the private quarters were. Corbin was turned over to a woman Loki introduced as Hulda. She would be teaching Corbin the history and customs of the nine realms in the afternoons. She was also in charge of seeing to Corbin’s food and lodging. Much to Jack’s surprise, Corbin, as a prince, would be staying at Thrudheim. Jack would be returning to Loki’s home for the time being. Corbin seemed more excited about having their own room again, than worried about living away from Jack.

“It’s not that far Papa, I can fly it in a few minutes.” Corbin said, bouncing on the bed. “I can come by after my lessons and show you what I’ve learned.”

Jack smiled at Corbin’s enthusiasm. After all they hadn’t spent every hour in each other’s company on Sakaar, as Jack spent his days on church business while Corbin was at lessons. These past few months were the exception. On a certain level he was relieved to have some time away from his child. After a quick hug Corbin left with Hulda to find the library. 

Loki caught Jack by the wrist and practically dragged him down the stairs. Jack had to trot to keep up with his long strides. The stopped long enough for Jack to grab his clothes and then Loki rushed him out of the village. The path to Loki’s house was cleared of snow. Jack was glad, the heeled boots were awkward enough. He didn’t want to have to try to run through snow in them. Loki slowed as they left the houses behind them and Jack was finally able to drop back into a fast walk. 

“Any reason for the sudden hurry?” He asked.

Loki gave him a measuring look. “If you were a true mage you’d know by now.”

“Kinda had a lot on my mind this morning.” Jack answered. “And you’re still blocking my magic. So no, I don’t know what we’re running away from.”

“Not away, towards.” Loki answered cryptically.

Jack was not about to try to use his true sight while walking quickly over an icy, muddy path in high heeled boots. He let the subject drop and tried to match the taller man’s strides, in an effort to take the pressure off his aching wrist. The way he moved Jack wasn’t even sure Loki was aware he still had a hold of Jack. By the time they arrived at the cabin’s front door Jack’s hand was going numb. Loki let him go, traced a pattern over the door and entered his home. Jack followed rubbing his arm and trying to get feeling back into his hand.

Jack wondered at the difference between Loki’s humble home and Thor’s palatial quarters. The little cabin was much older than the rest of New Asgard. The walls were thicker, made of logs rather than planks. The roof beams were massive and carved with runic designs the carried down the interior of the walls. Jack noticed that the carvings were recent, light against the dark wood.

He invoked true sight and saw that there were faint lines of power that traced over the runes. The lines glowed brighter and Jack turned to find Loki sitting in the branch work chair, his head back and his hands on his thighs. He was glowing green with seidr, it pulsed and crackled in time like a living thing, brighter and more chaotic then Jack had ever seen. He backed away from Loki and he could feel his body trying to shift form in fear. The last time Jack has seen something like this was on Sakaar where the Grandmaster had scintillated with an Elder’s power.

The magic intensified in Loki’s open palms, then snaked up into the network of runes overhead. From there the power followed the designs down the walls and earthed itself in the frozen ground. Jack watched as the magical overload drained from Loki. He was both fascinated and terrified. In a few moments the excess power was gone and Loki closed his hands. He took a deep breath, opened his eyes and beckoned Jack over. 

“You behaved yourself little demon.” Loki said, and ran a finger from Jack’s throat, over his chest, down his belly and his hips all the way down is thighs. Jack’s clothing peeled away at the touch and fell to the floor, leaving him wearing only the knee high boots, his collar and the jeweled hair pins. He shivered from both cold and anticipation. 

Loki stood and pulled a braided single tail whip from thin air. He held it before Jack’s face.

“I wonder, do you think this will do for your reward?” Loki asked with a smile.

Jack looked into Loki’s eyes bent forward and placed a kiss on the leather. 

“Yes my lord.” Jack said his voice low with desire. “It will do very nicely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah now they get down to some serious work.


	7. They choose the path where no one goes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack gets his reward. Porn. some things go fubar.

Jack’s eyes were closed, the curved log was smooth under his hands, he could feel the planes where the adze had shaped it a hundred or more years ago. This close he could smell the ancient resin that still lingered in the walls. His heartbeat had slowed to the thud of the whip across his back. His breath was the swish of leather through the air. The burn on his skin was proof that he was good, that he had value, as his owner marked him with meticulous precision. Loki was working his way from Jack’s right shoulder to his left, laying the welts side by side. Jack lifted his head in confusion when the next blow didn’t fall.

It took a moment for his dazed brain to register that there had been a knock on the door. He blinked the sweat out of his eyes. Loki’s cool hand was on his back, pressing between his shoulder blades.

“Stay.” Loki said, then “Open.” As he tapped the whip against Jack’s mouth. 

Jack opened his mouth, and Loki placed the whip between his teeth. When Jack closed his jaws around the leather, Loki patted his cheek.

“Good demon. Hold that and don’t drool on the floor.”

“Loki!” Thor called through the door.

Jack stared at the wall and shivered. He hoped Loki would send Thor on his way soon, the endorphin high was wearing thin and he felt exposed. To his chagrin he heard the sound of Loki’s warm purr, Thor’s muffled chuckle and a rustling quiet for longer then he liked.

“Do you think you can bribe me with presents, brother?” Loki asked. He sounded slightly out of breath.

“Of course I do.” Thor answered. “Especially if it’s mead.”

Jack heard the door close and two sets of footsteps on the wood floor. Thor’s dismissive snort made Jack want to turn and hit him in his smug face.

“I’m glad to see you’re finally disciplining the beast.”

“Wrong, brother. I'm rewarding him.” Loki said lightly. “I’ll be finished shortly, open a bottle for me and tell me your news.”

Loki stepped close to Jack and took the whip from his teeth. Jack was shaking now in mortification and anger. Loki’s hand rubbed over the welts on his back, he leaned in tugged Jack’s collar and whispered. 

“Calm yourself, little demon.”

He stepped back and the whip licked hot over Jack’s back. It was harder to focus on the pain, to let it ground him, as the brothers talked. 

“Not as bad as last years.” Loki commented.

“True.” Thor replied. “One should not expect high quality mead from earth’s honey, too many pollutants mar the taste. Are you really rewarding him?”

Jack was panting as Loki finished laying welts from the middle of his back to his left shoulder. It was one thing to submit to his god in an ordeal of pain soaked pleasure. It was another to do it in front of his overbearing brother. His stomach was in a knot, a mix of shame and vulnerability twisted tight. Loki stopped again, stroked his hand down Jack’s back from neck to tailbone, and said.

“Tell him Jack.”

“Yes.” Jack got out before clenching his teeth.

“Yes what, demon?” Came Loki’s soft purring voice. The danger in it made the hair stand up on the back of Jack’s neck. Loki’s nails pressed into the skin at the base of his spine.

“Yes, it’s my reward.” Jack quickly answered. “I want it, need it.”

Loki laughed softly and the whip sang through the air. Jack released the tension Thor’s arrival had precipitated in a shaking breath. Loki had asserted his dominance and Jack was his. That was all that mattered. Pain drove into his skin, into the muscles beneath, the welts crisscrossing as Loki brought the whip back across left to right. He layered the marks and Jack was once more lost in sensation, living for the searing touch. The conversation went on behind him, unheeded now. Only the building heat mattered. 

Fire flickered over one buttock and across the inside of his thigh and Jack yelped at the unexpected blow. Its twin was delivered on the other side and he raised up on his toes, his pained cry breaking through the high.

“I see I’ve got your attention again.” Loki laughed. “I’d hate to think you didn’t appreciate my work.”

“Loki.” Thor said, his concern evident in his tone. “Hasn’t he had enough?”

“Not quite, brother.” Loki said adding another pair of strokes over Jack’s ass and thighs.

Jack keened in hurt and stamped his heels on the floor.

“He’s not bleeding, and I did promise to beat you till you blead did I not?” This last to Jack.

Jack howled, “Yes! More Please! It hurts! Please!” and he danced in place gripping the wall. Desperate for the next blow.

“Fuck!” Thor cursed, shaking his head.

Loki laughed and gave Jack a strike hard enough to drive him to his knees. He screamed at the pain, then struggled to his feet, gasping. The second blow he withstood, better braced, then a third and fourth exploded across his back. Jack pressed his face to the wall and sobbed. Loki gave him a final hard lash and stopped. Jack cried, tears running down his face, he could feel the warm trickle of blood over his back, down his rump and thighs. Loki’s magic pulsed dull on the signet he’d carved years ago in Jack’s belly.

Loki’s hand was on his shoulder and it guided him across the room. At his direction, Jack sat on the floor, in front of Loki’s chair. He cried unashamedly as Loki wiped the remains of the make up from his face, calming him with the touch of his cool hands. He turned at Loki’s word and a cold cloth was run over his back, cleaning up the blood. Jack was aware that Thor had come over and was staring down at him. Loki urged Jack onto all fours and the cloth was cold on his butt and thighs. Jack’s tears ended and he took one slow shuddering breath after another. 

“It has been a while, has it not?” Loki asked. He added. “Remove the boots before you stain them with blood.”

“Years.” Jack answered. He pulled off his boots with a hiss of indrawn breath as the action drew the skin tight over his wounded back. “You were the last. Finlos loved me, but he didn’t understand what I needed. It would have hurt him to beat me. I couldn’t do that to him.”

Loki patted his shin and Jack crawled over and sat cross legged at his owner’s feet. He leaned his shoulder against Loki’s knee, and looked up at Thor. Thor frowned down at him. 

“What kind of a man are you?” He growled. “That you willingly enslave yourself to another.”

“I’m no kind of a man.” Jack answered, content to feel Loki’s hand resting on his head. “As you say I’m a demon. Besides, as I told you once before, I’m not a slave, I’m his pet.”

“Brother, I see no good purpose in this. This depraved beast will drag you down to his level.”

“Really Thor?” Loki said and Jack shivered at the sudden coldness of his tone. “Lower then fucking my own brother?”

“It isn’t like that and you know it!” Thor boomed.

“How then is it, brother?” Loki asked. “I believe that the good citizens of New Asgard would hold the opinion that I’ve debauched you with my wickedness were we to tell them of our little affair. Shall we put that to the test?”

“Loki don’t. You know I love you. If our people didn’t need me I would leave and take you where we could live openly as lovers.” Thor sighed. “I don’t see why you keep this beast.”

“I keep him for several reasons. One, he’s the mother of my child and I have an obligation to provide them both with a home. Two, as you may have noticed, I’ve marked him as my own, and I keep my word. Three and most importantly dear brother, he amuses me.” Loki paused, tilted his head. “I don’t remember there being conditions on our arrangement.”

“Arrangement?” Thor shouted and leaned over Loki, pinning his shoulders to the chair. Jack growled and bared his teeth, not terribly impressive as he was still locked in human form. Loki’s hand tightened in his hair keeping him seated.

“Is that all this is to you? An arrangement?” Thor was nose to nose with Loki, when he grinned, snaked his free hand into the thundering god’s hair and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Jack had to scramble sideways to keep from getting a foot in his groin as Thor stumbled forward to yank his brother up into his embrace.

“Idiot.” Loki laughed when they broke the kiss. He nuzzled Thor’s neck and nibbled on his ear. “Come, show me how much you love me, you lummox.”

Thor hoisted Loki over his shoulder carried him across the room and threw him laughing on the bed. He pounced on his little brother and pinned him down, covering his face with kisses. Their mouths met and they kissed as if starving for the taste of one another.

Jack crouched forgotten on the floor. He was still high from the beating and enthralled by the two gods wrestling on the bed. Thor was pulling at Loki’s clothes and would have ripped the leather armor from his brother’s body, had he not magiced it away. The sight of his pale long legged form made Jack moan in lust. The sound caught Thor’s attention and he turned his head toward Jack.

“Get out!” he snarled.

“You don’t own me!” Jack snapped back.

“Leave him be Thor.” Loki said and twisted out from under his brother to roll him onto his back. He performed the same sliding finger magic with Thor and his clothing peeled off to slither to the floor. 

“He’s watching us!” Thor protested.

“Good.” Loki said with a wicked grin. He straddled Thor’s thighs, his hardening cock lined up with his brother’s. “I want him to watch. I like being watched Thor. I find fucking in front of a witness exciting.” He punctuated his words with kisses down Thor’s throat and over his muscled chest. He paused to suck and bite the hard nub of a nipple.

“You’ve done that before?” Thor asked, the thought of Loki writhing in another’s embrace while someone else watched filled Thor with a confusing mix of arousal and jealousy.

“There’s very little I haven’t done before, brother.” Loki said as he lapped down the line of blond hair. “I’ve a curious nature, and as you well know, I don’t subscribe to Asgard’s notions of propriety.”

Loki slid between Thor’s thighs and smiled at his brother’s obvious arousal. 

“Hmmm.” Loki said. Laying on his belly and resting his forearms on Thor’s hips.

“Just what I’m in the mood for.” 

He licked a line from Thor’s balls to just under the reddened head of his thick cock. Jack whimpered in arousal at the sight. Loki lifted his head, looked at Jack and released the lock on his power. Jack felt the magic unwinding from the mark on his belly and he shifted back into his demi demon form. His wings unfolded from the bones of his shoulder blades and his tail grew from the base of his spine. He shook like a wet dog as he was returned to the shape he preferred.

Loki grinned at him.

“Come here little demon and put your too busy tongue to good use for once.”

Thor raised up on his elbows and opened his mouth but whatever he was going to say was lost as Loki took the head of his cock between his warm wet lips. His unsaid words turned into a moan of pleasure.

Jack crawled toward the bed his heart hammering. He raised up behind Loki, admiring the round globes of his ass. He kissed the inside of Loki’s knee, and the long legs parted and Jack moved between them to plant a kiss on Loki’s rump. He caught Thor’s heated glance and he could hear Loki slurping on his brother’s thick shaft. Jack’s own cock was throbbing as he parted Loki’s cheeks and nuzzled between them. Loki’s soft muffled cry was followed by him pushing his butt back into Jack’s face. Jack licked into the warm crevice and traced his tongue down until he found the tight ring of muscle. Loki’s legs spread wider and Jack pressed his lips to Loki’s asshole. He kissed and then licked, whimpering in need, the heat and taste setting him afire. With warm lips and a wet probing tongue, Jack worshipped his god’s ass. Loki rocked back into Jack’s fevered caresses as he sucked and lapped at Thor’s hard shaft. Jack focused on giving his owner as much pleasure as he could, he spit on his hand, slid it under Loki and grasped his cock. Loki thrust into his palm and Jack stroked him. He buried his tongue as deep as he could into the clenching heat, kissing and sucking the tight ring of muscle.

Loki was rutting hard into his hand, his anus was wet and slick with spit. Jack heard Loki’s muffled little cries of pleasure as Thor fucked his mouth. Jack matched the rhythm of the thunder god’s thrusts and Loki howled in pleasure, writhing between them. Again Jack caught Thor’s glance and he backed off as Thor pulled Loki off his cock. Loki panted in need. 

“Fuck me!” He demanded. Thor scooted back on the bed until he was sitting up and drew Loki onto his lap. With a touch of his seidr Loki slickened his brother’s cock and pressed his spit wet hole against the thick head. Jack watched as Thor entered Loki slowly, easing his way in and pulling back out with short thrusts, despite Loki’s attempt to impale himself in one deep plunge. When he was finally buried all the way into his brother’s tight ass, he glared at Jack a moment then motioned him forward. Jack needed no direction, he wrapped his lips around Loki’s jutting cock and took it into his mouth as Thor fucked his brother’s ass.

Loki’s nails scraped over Jack’s scalp and he drove deep into his throat, unrelenting as Jack gagged on his shaft. Jack tried to work his mouth on Loki’s cock but he might as well have tried to control a hurricane. Thor’s powerful rutting was plunging Loki forward with each rock of his hips. Loki’s grasp on Jack’s hair forced him to take Loki’s cock full length down his throat again and again in harsh stabs that made him choke. Jack was shivering in ecstasy at the brutal treatment, his eyes shifted from their normal human appearance to solid pupil-less cobalt, his pale skin had faded to snow white and everywhere they touched Loki’s skin was swiftly changing a soft sky blue. 

Thor roared as his brother’s form shifted in his embrace, his skin turning cold as ice but his warm slick hole seeming to grow even hotter. Loki’s eyes were shut, his head thrown back and he cried his brother’s name, his voice deep and resonant. Jack sucked and licked as Loki’s cock pulsed in his mouth, the hot spend pouring down his throat as Loki ground deep, emptying in shuddering thrusts. Jack suckled and caressed as Loki moaned. He could feel Thor’s thrusts increase in pace, Thor’s deep growling as he fucked Loki through his orgasm, his own need building to an impossible crescendo. Somehow it was the sight of Jack lifting his head from Loki’s lap, his face flushed, and trails of Loki’s seed dripping from the panting demon’s chin that sent him over the edge. He held Loki tight and emptied in long throbs into his brother’s hot ass.

Thor collapsed back against the headboard, murmuring, “Loki, my love.” 

He caught Loki’s alarmed look at his own body, the raised lines etching patterns over his blue skin. Thor held him tighter as he struggled to get away, kissed Loki’s cheek and looked deep into his crimson eyes. 

“Loki it’s alright, brother. You are so beautiful.” 

“NO! Stop lying! Let me go! How can you touch me when I’m like this?!” 

Loki kicked at Jack who was still crouched between his thighs, hitting his shoulder with a bone breaking force. Jack gasped when his collar bone snapped and fell off the bed in his haste to get away. Loki wrested free of Thor, shifting back into Aesir form as he got to his feet. His armor wrapped around him and he advanced on Jack with swift strides. Jack scrambled backwards till he hit the wall.

“You did this to me, you miserable little monster!” Loki snarled.

“I didn’t mean to!” Jack cried. “Loki I’m sorry. Don’t hurt me!”

Loki lashed out with magic and Jack’s hastily thrown up shield took the blow. The slash from the knife he was not so quick to evade and he screamed as Loki laid his forearm open to the bone. Jack was only saved from the counter blow to his throat when Loki’s hand was grasped in Thor’s massive grip.

“Loki! Stop!” Thor said and he held his struggling brother tight. Loki fought for a moment more and then stopped, panting. He finally seemed to take in the bleeding, terrified creature in front of him. Loki turned and Thor enveloped him in his arms. He motioned to the door and Jack was through it as fast as he could move. The bitter cold was preferable to the rage that Loki had turned on him.

Jack took shelter from the wind in the pile of downed trees. His anger kept him warm as he poured magic into healing the deep cut on his arm and his broken collar bone.When it was done, he burned the last of his power to shift into ice demon form. That Loki had turned to his brother, instead of to Jack, who he had wounded in his madness, hurt worse than any knife. He ripped off his collar and threw it toward the cabin. He flung himself into the night sky, heedless of the patrols or his own nakedness. He was furious at the weakness that had led him back into Loki’s faithless embrace. Enraged at his own willingness to lap up the crumbs of affection he was offered. He cursed himself, Loki, Thor and the blind impulse that had caused his sire to create him in the first place. When he hit the magical barrier that enclosed New Asgard he shrieked in rage and tried to claw his way through.

The first patrol ship to arrive outlined him in light. Jack turned from the barrier toward the Aesir raising weapons toward him. Here were enemies he could strike back at. The past two years of fear and frustration boiled over. The demon howled in bloodlust and dived toward his prey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that didn't go so well.


	8. They hold no quarter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confusion, rescue and reconciliation. Hard truths.

He dodged the first blast, tucking one wing and side slipping as he flapped toward the open skyboat. He flashed across the band of light into the darkness weaving between bursts from the guns and the searching lights. He could see the three people on the ship, their fear plain on their faces, and he reveled in it, drinking their terror like wine. Even their determination to stop him, (he who was a fucking god!), didn’t decrease his pleasure. They thought he’d forgiven them the slights, the sideways looks, the way they always turned to his brother, basking in that golden glow…. (His brother?)

He would destroy them, shred them. His claws were unsheathed, (his claws?) and he called his magic, desiring to see his seidr wreathing his hands in green. (seidr? green?) The magic didn't answer and it shook his certainty. For a moment he truly looked at the trio he was plunging toward, an old man wrinkled and thin balanced on a prosthetic leg as he fired, the grief worn face of a middle aged woman eyed him over the barrel of her gun, tracking his flight and a boy too young, barely past his own son’s age aiming the light. (His son? The stranger he’d just met? The child who’d grown in his womb?)

He dodged back into the dark, breaking off the attack. Images swirling in his mind, the shriek of the alarm becoming the scream of a boy in terror, the howl of a monster wielding a blade that peeled the flesh off his bones. The sky his refuge, a place of safety and escape, a void that sapped all hope, all meaning, shredding his mind as he fell, eternally fell. His spread his wings (wings?) at the last moment, and skimmed above the ground, the air too warm, searing his skin, dry as dust, the earth cratered and barren. Frozen, tree spotted, shrouded in snow and laced with lightning. City streets, broken lamps and stinking shadows, windows fractured in abandoned buildings. The worlds layering one over the other.

Something hit him and threw him sideways, dropping him from the sky, he skidded across the terrain, the snow breaking his fall. A voice thundered above him in words he didn’t understand, there was laughter in it. Softer voices answered back and the lights turned away. Comforting night enveloped him as he panted for breath, feeling the cold of snow on his wings.  
His brother (His brother?) towered over him, muscular, beautiful, his skin bronze? deep brown? His hair gold? black? Desirable and wrong, so very wrong. He waited for the pain, the blow that would knock him back, waited for the crack of knuckles on his cheek, the hurt of punches to his ribs. Waited for the kiss that would caress over his torn mouth. Jason? Thor? The frown was almost identical, the features blurring back and forth as he looked. Fear and desire and confusion as memories interlaced. He snarled baring his teeth, lashing his tail (tail?) A hand reached toward him, broad powerful, withered with age and shaking, words of accusation drummed in his ears. Threats and promises from sixty (a thousand?) years. The voice broke through the remembered disputes.

“You need to come with me.” His brother said.

He cried out in desperation. “Who am I?” and ripped his claws down his forearms, his skin splitting and his blood flowing warm. The pain seemed important and he raised his arms to his brother in offering.

“Jack! You’re Jack. Stop that!” His brother, no Loki’s brother said. “Now. You’ve caused enough trouble as it is.” 

“I’m Jack.” Jack said. And the invading memories shattered like thin ice, melting away even as he tried to make sense of them. The ruffled snow was welcoming as he pitched forward in a faint.

******

The room was warm and quiet. There was the smell of wood smoke and the crackle of a fire, which gave off a soft reddish light. He was lying on a sheepskin in front of it, a blanket over him. His arms were sore, wrapped in bandages. His wings folded on his back and his tail wound around his ankles. Mostly human again, he was back in demi demon form. He could hear soft snoring from the bed and the creak of wood as someone moved behind him. Jack turned. Seated in the branch work chair, his long legs tucked under him, was Loki. He held a book in one hand and a cup balanced on the arm of the chair. The low yellow light of a lamp cast his face in shadows. He gave no sign as Jack sat up. Loki turned a page with a slender forefinger. Jack glanced at the bed. Thor lay on his back, eyes closed as his chest rose and fell in sleep.

Jack wrapped the blanket around him. He slowly stood up, feeling weak and hollow and shaky. He walked carefully across the room and settled with his back to Loki’s chair. He watched the fire, burning away behind the glass door of the stove, the way the flame seemed to drift from one end of a log to the other. A hand reached down to stroke over his head and he leaned into it, breathing slow and deep. The fingers touched his cheek, ghosted down his jaw, his neck, one hooked the ring on his collar, tugged. 

“Don’t take this off again.” Loki said softly. “You are mine.”

“Thine.” Jack agreed and pressed a kiss to the inside of Loki’s arm.

The hand was withdrawn and Jack leaned back, his head rested against Loki’s knee. The fingers returned to thread through his hair giving it a tug. Jack sighed and closed his eyes. The warmth stole over him and he dozed. He slipped in and out of sleep as Loki moved, the soft sound of a page turning, the gentle snoring, the crackle of the fire lulled him deeper.

When he woke again it was full day, he was back on the sheepskin and alone in the cabin. He could smell coffee and sausage. Jack washed dressed and went to the table. There was a covered plate on with “Jack” written on a scrap of paper on the lid. He ate the still warm food, finished off the coffee and then washed his plate along with the dishes in the sink. He refilled the kettle and placed it on the stove to heat. 

Jack looked around for more tasks he could do. He stripped the bed, placed the used linens on one side, along with any dirty clothes he could find. He noticed Loki’s cloak was gone. He wiped down the table and swept the floor, keeping busy to avoid thinking about last night. He was cleaning the bathroom when he heard the sound of the front door opening. Jack looked out of the bathroom and saw a young girl. He ducked behind the door, out of her view and surreptitiously watched her. She placed a neatly folded stack of clothing on the table, picked up the pile of dirty clothes and left.

Jack untied the bundle, hung up Loki’s clothes and placed his own few items back in his pack. He remade the bed with fresh linens. He was mopping out the tiny bathroom when Loki came back in. He hung up his cloak, and then made tea, filling the pot from the kettle. Jack finished up what he was doing and put the mop away. Loki was at the table, cradling an empty teacup in his hands, the iron pot steaming. Jack walked over and knelt at his feet. He waited until he could bear the silence no longer.

“Last night…” Jack started.

“Was regrettable.” Loki finished, put down the cup and filled it from the pot. He gazed into the teacup as if it held all the answers. 

When Loki didn’t add anything more, Jack bit his lower lip trying to hold back the words that boiled up inside of him. His anger resurfaced and along with it the ache in his heart. A low growl rumbled in his throat. 

Loki gave him a level look that disclosed nothing. Jack bared his teeth, the growl growing louder.

“Answers.” Jack spat. Throttling back the ‘you bastard’ to only a thought.

Loki simply looked at him like he was a curiosity and then turned away to glance out the window.

“You may go outside and clear up the pieces of the porch, since it appears you have finished in here. There’s an axe in the shed to cut up the larger debris. Pile them beside the path. When you have completed that task, you can begin clearing the downed trees.” Loki said. He paused considering. “Also bring in a load of fire wood, we are running low.”

Jack listened as his anger turned into rage. His arms were still sore and the bandages were stained with drops of blood, where the scabs had broken open as he worked. The annoying pain fueled his temper. He stood up, his fists clenched.

“I deserve answers, not to be treated like some damn servant.” Jack snapped. “What the hell happened last night? Why did you..”

Loki placed the teacup down and he rose to his feet in one smooth motion. His hand shot out and grasped Jack’s hair, wrenching his head back and dragging him onto his tiptoes. Loki’s voice was calm and soft as Jack grasped his arm trying to keep his hair from being pulled out.

“You came to me Jack, I did not seek you out. I owe you nothing.” Loki said. “In case you have forgotten you are not a servant, you are a slave. You gave yourself to me and in doing so relinquished any claim you might have for even the slightest of courtesies. By the laws of Asgard I may do anything I wish to you, short of permanently maiming or killing you. So stop acting as if you have any say in what I choose to tell you.”

“I’m not a slave!” Jack hissed, pulling himself up on Loki’s arm “I’m your pet. I can take back my freedom if I choose.”

“No little demon.” Loki said. “You wear my mark on your belly. You wear my collar on your neck and you are my property. Here there is no ‘pet’ status. There is no such thing as playing at being owned. Though the laws are ancient, they still hold. I own you.”

Loki let Jack go. “Do as you are told or I will find ways to punish you, which you will not enjoy.”

Jack staggered back, the enormity of Loki’s words sinking in. He looked at Loki in shock, unable to form words. He raised his hands in mute appeal. Loki's face softened. He stepped close and clasped Jack’s wounded arms in his hands. 

“As long as you remain in the bounds of New Asgard you are my thrall.” Loki said, and his magic slid over Jack's arms, cool and soothing, healing the claw marks. “I may choose to be a kind master, Jack, but I cannot be a weak one.” Loki tipped Jack’s head up and looked into his eyes. “Do you understand me?”

Jack thought about what Loki had said. As long as he stayed, Loki owned him. He had snuck into New Asgard, he might be able to sneak out. As long as he had his magic. But what of Corbin? Corbin who was now a prince, with all the power and prestige to insure the future. Could he abandon his child here, or steal them away to a life of uncertainty? Jack nodded, licked his lips.

“May I ask a question?” He said.

Loki smiled a little sadly. “You just did, but I will allow another, as long as it does not touch on last night.”

“Will I be allowed to paint?”

Loki blinked, that was not a question he had anticipated. “Yes Jack, you may paint when your tasks are done.”

“OK. I understand. I will try to obey.” Jack couldn’t keep from adding, “You know I suck at it.” He turned and started for the door. He stopped with his hand on the door latch and looked back over his shoulder. “I, I’m sorry for… for.” He trailed off not knowing what to say. 

“Go, Jack.” Loki said, sitting down and picking up his tea.

Jack fled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack is angry and scared and needy, he has so many questions and no one to ask them of. Loki has once again, too much to have to deal with and no time to coddle an annoyance, like Jack, through the particulars of a situation he does not want to think about. Comments are welcome.


	9. Walking side-by-side with death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack makes himself useful. A little domestic labor. A short trip. All hell breaks loose.

Jack spent the rest of the morning clearing off the remains of the porch and hauling it away from the house. He wasn’t used to the heavy labor and his arms and shoulders ached and sweat dampened his hair and shirt, even with the cold. He carried a load of logs from the woodpile into the cottage. Loki was leaning over the table working on a sheaf of papers. Half a dozen books were laying on the table top and propped open on various chairs. There were two ink pots, a brush, a quill, and several ball point pens and pencils. Jack caught a glimpse of symbols, including one that appeared to hover above the paper. He placed the logs into the wood box, dropping the last few and causing a clatter which earned a scowl from Loki. Jack didn’t bother to explain it was an accident, he just hurried back outside before he got into any more trouble with his touchy owner. 

He was working on the felled trees when Loki called him back to the cottage. 

“There’s food in the cold box, make us some sandwiches.” Loki told him. 

Jack growled under his breath, but washed the dirt from his face and hands before turning to the fridge. He pulled out supplies. The bread was in a metal box on the counter, fresh made. Jack found a skillet and put it on the stove. He sliced meat, onions and mushrooms, bread and cheese. A little butter in the pan and the onions and mushrooms were cooking. Thin slices of beef followed them and lastly he browned the bread, melting a slice of cheese on each before piling on the rest of the ingredients and adding the mustard. A pickle on the side completed the meal. He brought the plates to the table. Loki had cleared a spot in front of him and took the plate from Jack. When Jack reached to move some of the papers to set his own plate down, Loki stopped him.

“You sit on the floor, from now on.” Loki said. 

Jack’s eyes narrowed. He was getting damn tired of this shit. 

Loki saw his anger and smiled. “Do you truly need a lesson in obedience?”

Jack looked away, folded his legs and sat down crisscross. He wasn’t going to challenge Loki and they both knew it. Nonetheless the treatment rankled. He balanced his plate on his lap and started eating. Jack looked up surprised when Loki handed him a mug of tea. Apparently he wasn't beyond all consideration. They ate in silence, Loki continuing to make notes and flip through books. When the meal was over Jack collected the dishes, washed them and headed back outside. He’d been working for an hour, cutting the branches off the downed trees with the ax, when Thor arrived with a sudden thunderclap. 

Thor was dressed in his armor and carrying the weird battleax that glowed with power to Jack’s true sight. The cottage door opened before he could knock and Loki walked out, his green and black armor gleaming in the afternoon sun. He glanced at Jack.

“Put the ax down and come here.” Loki said. 

As Jack trotted toward them he felt Loki’s power wash over him. It was disconcerting to suddenly find himself dressed in a plain black version of Loki’s leather armor, without the signature helmet and none of the elaborate details. 

"You aren’t going to take him with us?” Thor asked.

“Would you rather I left him here to get into trouble?” Loki replied. “He may be useful, he has some skills.”

“In a fight? I’m not looking out for him, Loki. He’s your problem.” Thor said.

“Hey!” Jack said, “I’m not a child. I can take care of myself.” 

Loki did his weird thing of reaching into nothing and pulled out a naginata. He handed it to Jack. “I take it you are familiar with its use?”

“Yes. It’s similar to staff work.” Jack replied. 

He really wanted to know how Loki worked that magic. Did he have a store room somewhere with tons of stuff stashed in it? Was he making things out of thin air? Stealing them from where they normally resided? He'd have to find out later. Jack hefted the weapon, spun it in a circle testing its balance and adjusted his grip, it was light and felt like a part of his arm, the blade's edge razor sharp. 

Thor nodded his head. “He may do.” 

“Stay close to me and follow my lead.” Loki said. “And no shapeshifting, you’re off putting enough as it is.”

“Where are we go…” Jack gasped as brightly colored lights surrounded them. There was a rushing, swirling motion that reminded Jack way too much of being summoned.

One minute they were in the snowy yard of Loki’s cottage, the afternoon sun obscured by clouds and the next they were standing in a park, morning light filtering through bare trees. Across the street was a huge white building with heavy columns, braced by what looked like castles to either side. Tattered banners hung from the front, and the stone was marred with burn marks. Several damaged cars were abandoned in the street and as he watched more people were scrambling out of their vehicles and running away. 

There was a scream like a jet engine racing toward them from the park. Jack turned in time to see something explode overhead. He threw up a shield as rubble rained down around them. There was a roaring sound and a figure in red and gold flew up hovering over their heads. It took Jack a moment to recognize it as Iron Man. He stared dumbfounded at the superhero.

“What is the situation, friend Stark?” Thor asked.

“We have one group of ten on 77th that Cap’s got, Bucky is taking out another squad on 81st. Both ground forces and at least four more coming from the park, Hulk is there trying to keep them busy. They are armed with hand weapons, small blasters and have a nasty bite. There's one two man energy gun in each group. I’d say maybe 20 airborne providing cover. Nat and Hawkeye are clearing the civilians. Their target seems to be the museum.” Iron Man nodded toward Jack. “Who’s the new guy?”

“Mine.” Answered Loki.

“Whoa there, Rock of Ages, lighten up. If Bat Boy's wings work I could use a little help up here.”

“He stays with me.” Loki said. “Why did you request my assistance?”

“There’s some kind of portal in the park. Your job, Studio One, is to shut it down before they send more reinforcements. Thor, we need you to stop any more leaving the park.” Iron Man said. A grey and black machine screamed overhead and Iron Man cursed and took off after it. 

Thor spun and started running toward the park, as what looked to Jack like overlarge insects skittered across the ground toward them. A weapon flashed overhead and a splash of fire sent Jack leaping sideways. Then the bug things were upon them. Loki met then with flying knives and bursts of seidr that flung them skyward. Jack tried to keep up but was fighting for his life as the bugs swept in from the sides. He lashed out with the naginata, sweeping the blade in a slashing blow that sheared through its exoskeleton and cut the alien in half.,/P. 

Jack was startled, the blade was more than simply metal, its killing power enhanced by Loki’s spells. Jack turned and struck out with his left wing knocking one of the bugs down. A backwards stab and another staggered away. A fourth leaped only to impale itself on the blade as Jack spun the naginata like a drum major's baton, but the impact knocked him off his feet and he was trapped for a moment under the thrashing insect. He blocked its biting mandibles with his forearm and managed to push himself up with his wings. Another jumped at him and before he could react it was slammed into the ground by a silent green flash.

“Keep up!” Loki yelled at him.

Jack cursed the bugs and Loki in the same breath and leapt into the sky, climbing out of the creatures’ range as he raced after Loki. This however, brought him firmly into the target zone of the flying machines and a welter of shots arced after him. 

“Shit!” Jack snarled and called his own magic to his hands.

He swooped and climbed, dodging the blasts until he could loop back behind the less maneuverable air car. He hit the engine with a spear of ice and had the satisfaction of seeing the machine spiral out of control and slam into the ground. That it narrowly missed Loki’s ax welding brother was an unexpected bonus. Lightning lanced out of the sky and another machine exploded behind Jack. The shrapnel peppered his wings, slicing the delicate membrane and forcing him into a semi- controlled fall. He coiled into a ball and rolled across the turf as he hit.

He was hauled to his feet by Loki grabbing the back of his collar. Jack ran beside his owner dodging the attacks and fending off those that got too close. As they ran deeper into the park a feeling of oppression began to grow. Jack knew there was something wrong ahead. Worse than the bugs, or the flying machines, more dangerous than the lightning stabbing down around them or the deep ground shaking bellow off to their left. It was if the world was twisted inside out, a coiling power that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his tail want to curl between his legs. He fought the clamoring instinct to change into full ice demon form. He was sick and dizzy from the alien magic and the pain in his wings, as they sprinted between an open air theater and a pond. Jack panted in an effort to keep up with Loki’s long strides, sweat blurring his vision. He almost slammed into Loki, when the taller man abruptly stopped.

Across a paved road, where the trees gave way was a vast lawn. Flying machines screamed overhead and at least thirty of the bug creatures were forming into ranks. But they were not what grabbed his attention. It was the hole in the world that froze him. Jack had no other word for the thing that rippled in the air, softball fields incorrigibly normal behind the gaping rip. The malevolence that poured from its depths made Jack’s stomach lurch and he fought down a wave of nausea. For the first time since entering the fight he had a moment to stop and think. Terror made his heart pound and the only thing that held him in place was Loki’s sudden grip on his upper arm.

“Damn.” Loki whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History has attracted attention? Why don't the aliens just buy the damn tickets and stand in line like everyone else? It'd make life so much easier for superheroes.  
> Now that the adrenalin has worn off, Jack has a reality check.


	10. The devil mocks their every step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Battle. An Avenger extends a helping hand.

Thor barreled up on the right and Jack shied back from him, bumping Loki. Loki turned his head, saw Jack’s obvious fear and snarled silently, his grip tightening. Jack met his eyes, bent his head in shame and looked away.

Jack stood trembling, trying to master his terror, only now noticing the bodies that littered the field. He wasn’t trained for war. It was one thing to defend yourself, to learn the ways to move to take down an attacker. It was something else to go willingly into combat when death was scattered at your feet. And the portal called to him. Called to the thing that he kept leashed with magic and memory. Promised it power. Revenge. Bloodshed. This was a war on two sides and he dared not tell Loki lest he be seen as a liability. Jack chanted under his breath invoking the bindings carved into his skin and pale blue light glowed softly over his armor, covering him in a gossamer web.

He finished the spell and caught the last few words of the brothers' whispered conference.

“I don’t trust him.” Thor said.

“Trust my judgement, brother.” Loki answered. 

Thor raised his battleax and with a thunderclap he was descending on the ranks of the invaders. Lightning forked and stabbed blowing the groups apart, some of the insectoids scattered, but more of them turned to attack the thunder god. To Jack’s amazement Thor retreated across the field as the creatures poured after him. It was at this moment Loki squeezed his arm again and they were suddenly within feet of the portal. Jack swayed, the teleportation was disorienting, but this close the darkness was singing to him in a thousand leering voices. He took a step back from it.

Loki shook him.

“Little demon, watch my back while I unmake the rip between worlds.” Loki said and released his grip.

Jack wanted to scream at Loki that he couldn’t be here, that the other side was pounding its magic in his veins. That Corbin needed him and he shouldn't be here. That he wasn’t any kind of a warrior. Instead he turned his back to Loki and the portal and braced his feet, the naginata in his hands. He could feel Loki’s magic building in a whirlwind of power. The bug things bounded across the field, turning from Thor’s distraction and racing to protect the doorway. Air cars circled and jetted toward them. The shaft of the weapon was slick from his sweating palms, and at the first strike it turned in his grip and he hit the bug with the side of the blade instead of the edge. It was knocked back into the second attacker. The delay as they disentangled allowed Jack to freeze off the sweat and take a firmer grip. 

Then it was all movement and magic. The shield above them to protect form the blasts of the flying machines, the blade blurring as Jack slashed and stabbed, striking with wing and feet and once even his tail to pull an enemy off balance. And the whole time the terrible screaming in his head got louder and louder, no longer able to seduce him, it tormented him with threats of its vengeance.

Lightning was flickering around them, and once a giant green thing plowed through the field tossing insectoids as it charged past. There were explosions overhead and red and gold streaked across the sky. It was chaos and noise, the stench of burnt machine and flesh, the smell of blood and ichor and the reek of shit and piss from the dead. Horror overwhelmed Jack and he was screaming as he struck out. Too scared to run, he fought on driving the things back from where Loki cursed and wrestled the dark power that held the portal open. He felt a tightening at his belly and then Loki was tapping into Jack’s own magic, pulling power away from his bindings. Jack cried out, without the bindings the dark part of his nature might get lose again. He didn’t have time to fret because a second wave of attackers were on them and he lost himself in the deadly dance.

The screaming in his mind cut off like a switch had been flipped. Jack saw the last of the bugs destroyed by Thor’s battleax before it could get close. He took a ragged breath and looked about him. The remains of the invasion force was dead or dying. He was soaked in yellowish ichor and bright drops of blood spattered his armor. An insectoid was on its back, its legs kicking in its death throws. Loki sat on the ground behind him white faced and panting. Thor was hurrying toward them grinning, he paused to dispatch one of the wounded creatures. Jack turned to Loki, took two paces from the carnage and dropped to the ground on his hands and knees, the naginata fell beside him. He vomited, emptying his belly, with harsh gasps. Loki looked at him with an expression devoid of anything but exhaustion. Jack crawled to Loki’s side and curled up, hugging his knees, his head tucked down and his damaged wings folded to his back. He shivered when Loki’s hand tangled in his matted hair.

There were more voices and the sound of sirens. Loki rose with Thor’s help and he in turn dragged Jack to his feet. Jack wrapped himself in his wings and covered his face with his hands. Loki walked away and there were other people by him now. Jack wanted to hide, but didn’t have the strength to move so he stood were he was. He heard Loki arguing with a man he called Strange and Thor’s gruff attempt at peacemaking. Then a metal hand touched his shoulder and a voice, softer now without the amplification said.

“Hey Bat Boy you alright in there?” Stark asked, concerned.

Jack lifted his tear streaked face and shook his head at Stark.

“They’re dead,” Jack said in a harsh whisper. “The bug people are dead and I killed them. I murdered them. And other people are dead. Everybody’s dead. I’m a monster and I keep killing people. There’s blood all over me.”

He held out his shaking hands that were splattered with ichor and asked, his voice loud in a pause in the conversations. “How do you clean off the blood?”

“Shit!” Said Stark, looking around, then “Loki!” 

Jack covered his face again, sobbing. Loki looked over, took in the situation with an annoyed expression and turned back to Strange. Tony awkwardly patted Jack’s shoulder. 

“Hey. It wasn’t your fault, Count Chocula.” Stark said. “They invaded us. They were the ones who started the attack. You helped stop them from killing more innocent people. Am I right?” 

Jack nodded, wiping his eyes with the palms of his hands and his nose on his gauntlet.

“Of course I’m right. Genius.” Stark said. 

“Sorry.” Jack sniffled. 

“Its OK Bat Boy. You know Rock of Ages is a real asshole.” Stark commented, steering Jack toward Loki.

“Yeah.” Jack said. “It’s his nature.”

Thor smiled, “Jack!” he boomed, striding up to them. “You did well in battle today. You will be a fine warrior in time.” He raised his hand to clap Jack on the shoulder but Jack dodged away with a growl. He mantled his wings, bared his teeth and unsheathed his claws.

“Don’t fucking touch me.” Jack snarled. “I’m not a goddamn warrior, I’m a painter.”

Thor dropped his hand and scowled at Jack, then turned away without another word.

“Harsh.” Stark commented. “A painter? House? Landscape? Body?”

Jack shook himself, folded his wings and turned back to Stark. “Portrait. Jack Linden. I used to have a website. About three, four years back, not sure because of the time differential. Ever heard of Sakaar?” 

“Yeah. That’s where Banner was.” Stark said. “You were there too? What do you know about their tech? And the wormholes. Were you there long enough to study them?”

“I see you’ve managed to anger Thor again.” Loki said coming up behind them. “What little Jack knows about wormholes and alien technology would hardly hold your attention, Stark.”

The man Loki addressed as Strange was with him. He eyed Jack with suspicion and the glow of a spitting, barely controlled magic gathered around his hands. Alarmed, Jack tried to gather his own power but he was drained from the fight. Loki turned to Strange.

“Is there some reason you are about to attack my property, wizard?” Loki asked.

“Stand down Dr.” Stark said raising his hands and added to Loki. “Property?”

“That is a demon, a creature of evil. It does not belong on this plane.” Strange said.

“Not this shit again.” Jack said. “Specieist much?”

“Strange,” Loki said and punched the sorcerer in the chest, launching him thirty feet across the field. As he landed Loki added, “The next time you call me to deal with a problem of your own making, I will not answer.”

Loki took Jack by the wrist. “Yes, Stark, Property. My property.” 

Jack nodded at Stark’s startled face. “I am.”

“You can’t own another person, that’s slavery.” Stark said in outrage.

“It is and I certainly can.” Loki said. “Thor! I tire of these mortal’s company. It is time to return to our home.”

Thor made his goodbyes to Captain America and his friend and walked over to Loki.

“Look Reindeer Games, slavery is outlawed on earth. I don’t care who you are, you can’t own people.”

“But new Asgard is not a part of Earth. It says specifically in our charter that we are a sovereign people and not under the laws of any nation. Only Asgard law applies in new Asgard.”

“You’re not in New Asgard now. Let him go.” Stark said, and the weapons on his armor activated and pointed in Loki’s direction.

"Hey! No!" Jack said.

“Very well.” Loki said. He dropped Jack’s wrist, turned to Thor and placed his hand on his brother’s forearm. “Take me home.” 

Thor smiled at Jack before raising his battleax.

“What?” said Jack. “Wait!” 

The brothers disappeared in a burst of shimmering rainbow light. Jack stood open mouthed, looking at the burned spot were his owner had been only moments before.

“Hey Bat Boy, You’re a free man now.” Stark said with a cocky grin.

Jack rounded on him with a shout. “You fucking idiot!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Jack, battle scarred, traumatized, and now abandoned.


	11. The snow drives back the foot that's slow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misunderstandings, no one is listening.

Stark looked at Jack in puzzlement. “Uh, language, Count Chocula.”

“Language!?” Jack said. We got dead people all over the place! Somebody tore a hole to hell in the middle of a ball park! You just kidnapped me and you’re worried because I dropped the F-bomb?”  
Jack laughed, it was a wild and uncontrolled sound.

“I kidnapped you?” Stark asked. “I freed you.” 

“Thank you,” Jack said. “Thank you so very gods be damned, much! Did I asked to be freed? Call Thor up. Get them back here now!”

“Hey Bat Boy, you got a Stockholm syndrome thing going on here?” Stark said. “Because I’m pretty sure this is not a normal reaction.”

“Don’t listen to it Stark.” Strange said, appearing in their midst with a shower of sparks. “The demonic forces are masters of deception, and I read a similarity between this creature’s aura and that of the portal its master sealed. There is a reason it was left behind. Do not allow it to weave a web of lies to entrap you.”

Power gathered again in Strange’s hands and Jack backed away. Without Loki to protect him he had little in the way of defense against the sorcerer.

“What is your problem?” He said to Strange. “I came here to help and now I’m catching crap from you? I swear on the Trickster’s name, if you send my ass back to Chicago I’ll get you on kidnapping across state lines, which I’m pretty sure is a felony.”

“Chicago?” Stark asked.

“Yeah, these idiots are always trying to banish me ‘Back from wince you came.’” Jack said, moving to keep Stark between him and the sorcerer. “That’s Chicago. The hospital is gone, it’s a park now.”

“It’s lying, Stark,” Strange said. “It’s a demon and cannot be trusted.”

“Friday, find me records on a Jack Linden?” Stark said “Born in Chicago in what, 1985, 86?”

“1960.” Jack said. Then to Strange. “If you don’t leave me alone I’m going to stuff your brass knuckles so far up your ass you’ll be spitting sparks.” 

Which was pure bravado on his part as he was running out of steam. His wings were burning from the shrapnel injuries, his arm and ribs hurt from the fight, and Jack was pretty sure he was getting sick from having his magic drained dry. He was so tired he felt that if he stopped moving he was going to keel over. And he had to keep throttling the urge to laugh.

“Take it down a notch Strange, he’s legit.” Stark said. A pattern of lighted letters flashed across his face. “Birth certificate, school records, looks like you got in some trouble, nothing serious. A bunch of drunk and disorderlies back in the early eighties, one count of public indecency, and one shoplifting charge. Someone’s been a naughty boy. Clean record since the late nineties. OK that’s good. Your website is still up. I like that portrait of T.W., he really loved his bikes right? Nice guy.” 

Jack stopped circling around Stark as Strange lowered his hands. They eyed each other warily.

“Yeah he was, paid on time too.” Jack said to Stark. “I liked him.”

“Let me get this right. You disappear for two years and then show up with a mutant teenage kid three months ago? Because Sakaar has a number of singularities, to be specific the collapsing neutron star inside of an Einstein-Rosen bridge which caused a time distortion?” Stark asked Jack. “Then you both disappear almost a month ago, till you turn up here with the space Vikings. So where is the kid now? Is that the hold Bag o’ Cats has on you? Is he a slave too? What’s with the whole pseudo vampire look? Also why does Strange think you’re a demon? Cause he’s usually right about the magic stuff.”

“Close enough, except Corbin isn’t a mutant, or a slave.” Jack corrected, “I don’t know about the bridge thing, you mean wormholes? I’ve always had the wings and tail, it’s an alternate form, and technically I’m only half real demon. It’s not like I got to pick my parents. Can you please call Thor. I want to go home.”

“Already tried Count, he’s not picking up.” Stark said nodding to Captain America, who was walking over. “You were a little rough on Point Break. You two have a history?” 

Jack was devastated at the news that Thor wasn’t answering his phone. It had taken so much work to contact Loki in the first place. And Loki made it clear that Jack was nothing but a nuisance. He’d been abandoned. Again. After What? Three days? Also again. He abruptly sat down on the dead grass. It was too much. He didn’t know if he’d ever get to see Corbin again, the child who was his whole damn world. Or if he’d ever see Loki again, who he loved and hated and needed on a visceral level. The guy who said he owned Jack and then threw him away at the slightest provocation. Jack put his head in his hands, he was such a fool. 

The laughter he’d been trying to tamp down, boiled out of him. Loud and raucous, as if this was the greatest joke he’d ever heard. He shook his head at the two superheroes who were giving him weird looks, took a ragged gasp of air and dissolved in to gales of insane mirth. It was funny, hilarious that he’d struggled so hard to make things right only to have everything go to shit. Story of his life really. A huge cosmic joke. The pacifist demon who murdered people. The caring parent who left his kid with strangers. The devoted husband who’d destroyed his own marriage because his partner wouldn’t bully and beat him. The priest madly in love with his fickle uncaring god. The laughter was acid and burned his throat, his mouth, his eyes teared and over ran. Still he barked out his twisted glee at the totally fucked-up mess. 

“The honored dead!” Jack cackled, waving his hands to indicate the bodies, alien and human that were even now being recovered by emergency workers. “Will they get to go to Valhalla? Or Bug heaven? Or will they just all be food for smaller bugs?” He began to sing at the top of his voice, “The worms crawl in! The worms crawl out! The worms play..”

The sharp crack across his face brought him out of it and he dropped his head, wrapped his arms around his knees and panted, shivering and cold.

“Get him out of here Tony.” Captain America said. “And get him treated, before you ask him any more questions. He’s in shock.”

Jack was aware of being hauled to his feet and then thrown over Iron Man’s shoulder. He looked down at the park, the huge park, as it shrunk under them, skyscrapers took its place, roads and cars and so many people it made his head swim. His view was framed by the red and gold of Iron Man’s form fitting suit.

“You have a really nice ass.” Jack said looking at the muscled glutes inches from his nose. “I just noticed.”

“Cap’s right, you must be in shock if you just noticed.” Stark said. They landed on the patio of a towering skyscraper. “Most people notice how nice my ass is right away.” 

Jack thought about that as he was carried across a room then into an elevator. Stark was talking to a Banner, the name was vaguely familiar.

“I’m sorry.” He ventured, uncertain if he was apologizing for the hysteria, the battle or not noticing Stark’s butt earlier. “Did you slap me?”

Stark set Jack on an examining table, bracing him while he got his balance.

“Nope. That was Cap. Bruce will be down in a minute, he’s getting dressed.” Stark said, looking over Jack’s armor. “Can you take this off yourself?”

Jack ran his hands over the leather looking for buttons or zippers. “I don’t know. Loki magiced it on me.” He found a place where his fingers fit under the gauntlets and pried, and the piece opened. More searching and he got the overcoat, the undercoat and the vest off, leaving him in tunic, boots and pants. Stark nodded and left him to it. 

“I got clean up duty and a debriefing.” He said on his way out.

Jack winced as he slid the leather over his wings. The arm the insectoid had bitten ached, though the armor had protected him from most of the damage. He took the tunic off. There was bruising on his chest and arm but no cuts. There was a sink across the room and Jack staggered to it. He turned on the water and washed off his face and arms. His cheek stung and he raised his head and checked in the mirror. There was a shallow cut, hardly more than a scratch there. The door opened behind him and he saw Banner’s face reflected in the mirror, his eyes widening. Jack remembered who he was. He turned, leaned his hip on the sink to keep upright and offered his hand.

“I’m Jack, I don’t know if you remember, we met on Sakaar, a while back. Well, a while back for me. Two years for you.”

“I remember. You are a little hard to forget.” Banner said, taking Jacks hand and shaking it. He steered Jack back over to the examining table and waited for him to retake his seat. “Who did this to you?” He asked examining Jack’s back. 

“I was too close to one of those air cars when it blew up, I caught some shrapnel.” He spread his wings. “They sting, but there’s no broken bones. I might need a few stitches.” Jack looked over the cuts, they weren’t bleeding, they hurt but it wasn’t really bad.

“I wasn’t referring to the damage from the fight.” Banner said as he pulled out the antiseptic and gauze pads. “Who whipped you?”

Jack had forgotten about the whip marks. The tug and ache of the lashing had grown familiar and comforting. He hadn’t healed it along with his other injuries last night, keeping the marks intact even after changing his form. He shrugged, which caused a twinge as his skin stretched.

“Loki did. He…” Jack stopped. Loki what? Valued him? Cared for him? Maybe even loved him a little bit? That was a lie. Loki dropped him the first chance he got.

Banner was talking to the air. “Friday, would you get some close up pictures of this?”

A woman’s voice answered from the ceiling. “Yes, Dr. Banner.”

“What the hell?” Jack asked. “You’re recording me on security cams? What happened to doctor-patient confidentiality?”

“Friday is an AI. I’m recording this for legal reasons. Tony thinks you have Stockholm syndrome and I’m inclined to agree.” Banner said. “Torture is a common way captors break down their victims.” 

“Whoa! Stop right there.” Jack said. “He didn’t torture me. I asked for it.” 

“You shouldn’t feel guilty for what happened to you. Whatever you did you didn’t deserve this. You didn’t _ask_ for it.” Banner continued as he wiped anesthetic over the damaged wing membrane. “I understand, Jack. Forming an attachment to Loki was a way for you to survive. That’s a normal coping mechanism in extreme situations. We need the evidence to build a case against Loki, so we can keep you out of that maniac’s hands.”

“Are you fucking deaf?” Jack snapped, standing up and turning to face Banner. He swayed for a moment as the room tilted. “Let me make this clear. I may have terrible taste in men. Loki is probably bad for me. But I’m not a victim. I asked him to do this as in ‘Please hit me harder.’ I don’t have Stockholm syndrome. I’m a freaking masochist. If anyone kidnapped me, Stark did when he pointed his weapons at Loki and told him to let me go.” 

Banner stared at Jack, his face turning from surprise, to embarrassment to dismay. Jack crawled back up on the table and lay down on his side, his back to Banner.

“Could you please just fix my wings and leave me alone. I’m tired.” Jack couldn’t keep the jaggedness out of his voice. 

He bit his lip to stop the tears. He was embarrassed and nauseous and his head was starting to ache. Banner stitched Jack’s wings up, gave him pills for the pain, made him drink some juice and helped him get the tunic on. Jack followed him upstairs, yawning as the day dragged on. His body was telling him it was night but the sun was barely past noon. He was left in a room that wasSpartan in design but luxurious in detail. Jack pulled off the boots, peeled away the pants and lay down on the bed, exhausted. 

He expected to fall asleep, but his thoughts chased each other in circles. Worry about Corbin, about what he was supposed to do now. His mind kept rehashing the fight. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the bugs’ faces as they died. Were they angry? Afraid? Ecstatic? He couldn’t decipher their alien features. He wondered if there were Mrs. or Mr. Bugs back home that would miss them. Were there little pupa that would grow up never knowing their parents? 

Jack finally abandoned any thought of sleep, sat up in bed and turned on the television. The screen came to life with scenes from the fight and Jack quickly changed channels, his treacherous heart leaping at a glimpse of Loki’s lean form from when he stood in conversation with Strange. He settled back on the bed once he found an old black and white cowboy movie. He watched without interest as the images paraded across the screen. It was followed by a musical from WWII and then a film noir about a faithless girl who led her lovers to their ruin. That one held his attention and he drifted into a kind of numb acceptance of its dark truths.

The antihero was giving the final sermonizing speech when Stark burst into his room. Jack glanced at the agitated man as he lounged on the bed. He wasn’t in the metal suit and it made him look both smaller and somehow more impressive, as though his personality had been repressed inside the technology. 

“Do you know what your boyfriend just did?” Stark said as he paced in front of Jack. “He filed charges of criminal intimidation, kidnapping, and interference in the government of a sovereign nation against me. How exactly am I interfering in the government of a sovereign nation? His lawyer says they refused to answer my calls because Asgard has a policy of not negotiating with kidnappers.”

Jack sat up his heart leaping. Loki hadn’t left him. He was using Jack as a playing piece in some game with Stark, but he wasn’t abandoned. 

““You did point a shitload of weapons at him and proceed to kidnap the mother of his child. Said child who is in the process of being acknowledged as a prince.” Jack said, giving into using the common term for his relationship to Corbin. “This whole incident will have some influence on whether or not the council accepts Loki’s petition for legitimacy.”

“What?” Stark demanded. “I didn’t kidnap anybody and I sure didn’t kidnap his kid’s mom.” 

“Right.” Jack said. “You threatened him with imminent bodily harm and told him to let go of my hand. It was lucky Thor was there to help him escape.”

“You know that isn’t how it happened. He said you were his slave. He called you property.” Stark said. “How the hell was I supposed to know it was some kink game you two were playing? Wait, you’re a mom?”

“It isn’t a game. I’m legally his slave in New Asgard.” Jack said. “You assumed I wanted my freedom. Which I do not. And yes, Loki is Corbin’s father and I bore him.”

“You’re transgender?” Stark asked.

“No, Stark.” Jack answered. “I’m not human. My sire’s people only have one sex. It’s not that uncommon.”

“Look, I’m not holding you here against your will. You can leave at any time.” Stark said. “You are not kidnapped.”

“I can’t leave without knowing my master’s wishes.” Jack said lying back with a smirk. “And since I seem to be unable to contact him, that means I must stay put. Besides releasing your victim after the crime, does not negate the fact that you committed the crime in the first place. Not to mention I’m in a foreign country, I have no means of support, nor any way to get home on my own. Oh yeah, there’s also this sorcerer friend of yours, who’s been threatening me.” 

Stark glared at Jack, who yawned, feeling more relaxed then he had since he'd arrived in New York.

Stark turned on his heel and stalked out. “Friday, get Pepper on the line.” He said, before the door slammed shut. 

A woman on the TV was singing about the joys of margarine when Jack fell asleep, a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are looking up for Jack, not so much for Tony, who tried to do a nice thing, only to have it turn around and bite him on his shapely ass.


	12. The dogs of doom are howling more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interlude. Video games, head games and sex games. Porn.

There was the rapid fire of a machine gun, frantic shouting, and the blast of explosions. Jack woke to flickering light and the sounds of war. He sat up in the bed, his heart pounding, nightmares of blood and insectoids with human faces swirling in his head. The TV blared out its message of war in black and white, tanks climbing the ruins of crumbling buildings. Jack found the remote and turned it off. In the sudden silence he took a deep breath, the adrenalin spike dropped and his heartbeat slowed to normal. The clock on the bedside table read three fourteen. He stretched the stiffness out of his wings and wrinkled his nose at the stench of his own body. He reeked of stale sweat, bug ichor and antiseptic. 

A shower remedied the smell and the hot water eased the residual aches. There was nothing in the room in the way of clothing, but the filthy clothes he’d warn in the battle and a terry cloth robe. It wouldn’t fit unless he ripped holes for his wings or shapeshifted to his human form. Loki had forbidden him shapeshifting, and he really didn’t have the energy for it anyway. Jack decided to leave the robe as it was and wrapped one of the large towels around his waist. It hung to his knees and would serve for now. There was a small fridge in the room but it was empty. Which sucked. If Jack wasn’t a prisoner then he was a guest. Either way there should be something to eat. His stomach growled, reminding him he’d had no supper and it was past time for breakfast by his internal clock. He decided to go hunting.

The corridor was dark, but the lights of the city sparkled through a window. Jack paused to admire the view. He would have liked to explore it under other circumstances. He walked down the hall and saw a glow of light and heard the sound of a video game. The smell of coffee wafted to his nose and his stomach growled again. Jack was cautious as he walked to the corner and peered around the wall, wary of the possible presence of the wizard. Instead the man with the metal arm was sitting on a couch in what appeared to be a common room of some sort. He had turned to look at Jack with an intense focus that made Jack freeze. Jack nodded at him.

“You’re Captain America’s friend.” Jack said more a statement then a question.

The guy nodded, waited a moment too long as though he had to think about making a response.

“You were with Thor and Loki.” He finally said. He paused again then offered, “James.”

“Jack. I’m, uh, looking for something to eat.” 

James tilted his head toward the kitchen on the far wall and went back to the video game, as though half naked demons walking the halls was a normal thing. Hell, for all Jack knew it might be. He poured himself a cup of coffee and found the ingredients for breakfast. He was mixing the eggs when he thought to offer some to his silent companion.

“Hey I’m making an omelet. I can toss in a couple more eggs if you want some.” He said.

“What kind?” came the response a beat too slow.

“Cheese and onion.”

“OK”

Jack went to work and wondered what was up with the guy. It was as if everything Jack said had some secret meaning that had to be deciphered before he could answer.  
Jack made toast and brought two plates over and sat them on the coffee table. He returned for his cup and the pot and filled up James’ cup after a nod.  
He sat on the couch and they ate their food in silence. After a bit James pointed his chin at the towel.

“I didn’t know what to pack for a kidnapping.” Jack replied.

James smiled for the first time and it transformed his face. With the scowl gone, he was in fact, quite handsome, almost pretty. Jack couldn’t help smiling back.

“I know why I’m awake, I’m still running on Norway time. Why are you up?” Jack asked.

James’ face changed like a curtain closing. He shrugged, stood up and picked up the dishes and returned to the kitchen area. Jack trailed him.

“Didn’t mean to pry. “ Jack said and picked up a towel as James filled the sink. “I just wondered, if anyone else had nightmares. From killing...” 

He swallowed, stopped talking and watched James’ hands, one metal, one flesh washing the dishes. He knew the man was looking at him but Jack didn't raise his head and meet his eyes, afraid he’d start crying again. 

“Yeah.” James said.

He handed Jack the plate and Jack looked up. James’ eyes were haunted and dark and there was pain etched in his face. Jack felt the traitorous tears spill over his cheeks. He turned his head and finished drying the plate, put it away, took the second plate focusing on the actions. Keeping the dishes away from his face as the tears fell and dripped off his chin.  
He was drying the pan, James wiping down the empty sink when Jack said,

“I don’t know how many people I killed today.” He put the pan down, hung up the towel and used his hands to wipe the tears away. “It’s wrong. I should at least know how many. I should remember their faces. Shouldn’t I?”

“Do you think that will help?” James asked.

“Maybe, I don’t know.” Jack said.

“Seven.”

“What?”

“Seven, you killed seven of them.”

“Oh.” Jack said and would had sat abruptly on the floor if his arm hadn’t been caught in a metal grasp. James steered him back to the couch and lowered him onto the cushions. 

“You call them people.” James said, another statement that sounded like a question.

“They are.” Jack said. “They spoke, used weapons and they fought like soldiers, not animals. I’ve met people similar to them. Not the same species but…” he trailed off not knowing where he was going.

“You’ve never killed before?”

“I have. Once when I was really scared and didn’t know what was going on, or what I was doing. Once I had to defend myself.” Jack said.

He thought of the guards on Sakaar. They had attacked him, but he didn’t have to use deadly force, he’d done it because it was quicker. He’d been on a mission for Loki then, too. He remembered the urgency to complete that mission. He couldn't bring himself to tell James he'd slaughtered two more people out of expediency.

“Loki shouldn’t have brought me here. I’m not a soldier.” Jack said.

“Strange said you helped Loki to close the gateway.” James said.

“He used my magic like a battery. I didn’t do any spell work. I suck at magic.”

“You took down one of their flying cars with magic.”

“That’s not magic,” Jack said. “I mean it’s not studied magic, making things out of ice is innate. Like making it snow.”

“You can make it snow?” James asked.

“Yeah, but not very much. Like, I could cover the room in a half inch.” Jack thought about it. “Maybe less. It’s not very humid in here. Doesn’t matter. I don’t have enough power right now, Loki kinda tapped me out.”

James nodded. “Want to play?” he asked pointing to another game controller.

“Sure.”

Jack spent a couple of hours getting his ass kicked at a cross country race game, before James left to try to get some sleep. Jack played the game solo for a while. He could hear the sounds of people moving in the building, a vacuum cleaner running, and the noise of an elevator. The sun was well above the horizon when he heard footsteps in the hall and looked over the back of the couch, expecting Stark or one of his friends. He was surprised to see an immaculately dressed, red haired woman come into the room. She smiled and started toward.

“Ah” she said “Here you are. You must be Mr. Linden.” 

She paused when she got closer, taking in his state of undress. Jack was suddenly embarrassed to be caught in only a towel. 

“Uh. Wash day, nothing clean?” he ventured.

“You don’t look much like Arnold.” She answered. “I’m Ms. Potts. I see Tony didn’t think to supply you with a change of clothes.”

“No.” Jack said. He checked that the towel was secure before standing up. “I didn’t know there was going to be a lady present. I’ll go put my pants back on.”

“If you’ll wait in your room I’ll see that fresh clothing is delivered and we can resume our conversation.” She said. 

Jack edged around the couch and hurried down the hall to his room. He heard her tell Friday to wake up Mr. Stark and have him bring a change of clothing down for their guest. 

“And scissors.” Jack called back before he shut the door to his room.

Fifteen minutes and one visit from a rumpled and half-awake genius later, Jack was back in the common room clad in black jeans, a Stark industries T-shirt and the armored boots. He joined Ms. Potts and Stark at the table. Stark glared at him over a cup of coffee.

“Now Mr. Linden, I believe that we can resolve this problem without causing an international incident. I take it that you have been well treated during your stay at Stark Tower?”

“By well treated do you mean, taken from my owner at gunpoint, held without communication with my family, not given any information as to my status, nor offered food and have suffered the uncertainty of whether or not I will be punished for using the shower, leaving my room, and securing a meal for myself?” Jack asked.

“Suffering? You were playing Forza Horizon 3.” Stark snapped. “Pretty sure that’s not a banned method of torture under the Geneva conventions, Bat Boy.”

“Tony that is enough.”

“One of your friends asked me to play. I could hardly turn down someone who may well be complicit in my kidnapping, now could I? He said I needed to practice. Therefor I was simply complying with his wishes to help ensure my future safety.” Jack answered. “Did I mention that my owner, a prince of Asgard, and his brother, the king of Asgard, as well as myself, have been referred to by derogatory names during my entire ordeal?”

Jack folded his hands and looked at Ms. Potts. He had the hardest time not cracking a smile at Stark's rising outrage.

“I’m not sure, but did he just agree that I was tortured?” Jack added.

“You’re reaching there Count Chocula.” Stark said.

Jack pointedly raised one eyebrow at Ms. Pots.

“Mr. Stark, perhaps it would be better if you left this in my hands.” She said in a tone that brooked no argument. 

Tony glanced at her, back at Jack and stood up and walked away. 

“I’ll be in my lab, if you need me, Pepper.” He said.

She sat quietly until they heard the sound of an elevator opening and closing. Jack rubbed his hands together, flexing his claws. 

“What will it take Mr. Linden, for Loki to drop these charges?” Ms. Potts asked.

“I don’t know. You have to ask him.” Jack said. He shifted on the chair and glanced out the window.

“You’re playing his game.”

“I follow his lead. What else would I do?” Jack ran his claws up and down his forearms, the sharp tips barely touching skin.

“Maybe think for yourself. What do you want out of all this?” She leaned across the table. “Money? Power? No.” She shook her head, and sat back in her chair. “You’re a painter. Are you looking for fame? To make a name for yourself. Mr. Stark could do that. He likes your work. He could introduce you to his friends. You could be in demand. Think of that Mr. Linden. Able to pick and choose your clients. Your work gracing the homes of the wealthy and powerful. Gallery shows with big name celebrities attending. Your son could grow up here, with all the opportunities he could wish for, an unlimited future. Make this misunderstanding go away and you could have all that. Isn’t that what you want?”

Jack had been growing more agitated as she went on. A week ago he would have jumped at the chance, but now? He thought about Loki and his heart hurt. If he walked away… he wasn’t Loki’s love, he knew that. But that hand on his head, the tug at his collar. Loki's words, “You are mine.” Could he give that up for a chance at fame? And what about Corbin. Would his son be willing to give up being a prince, to do what? Work for Stark? Be the son of a famous painter? He remembered Corbin’s cry of, “Don’t take this from me too.” Jack closed his hands on his forearms, tightened his grip. There was a slick warmth under his fingers. Ten small points of pain, grounding him. Jack looked up.

“I want to go home.” He said. “I just want to go home. Please, give him what he wants.” 

She tightened her lips. “Neither Mr. Stark, nor myself believe it is in earth’s best interest to give Loki what he is asking for, considering his past actions.” She watched the blood tricking down his arms and pooling on the table. 

“Friday, you are recording this?”

“Yes Ms. Potts. I have been recording all of Mr. Linden’s actions since he was in the infirmary, as Mr. Stark requested.” The voice of the AI came from a speaker overhead.

“Good. I don’t want there to be any claim he was injured while in our care.” She nodded to Jack. “Would you like Dr. Banner to see to that?”

“No. It will heal. May I please talk to Loki? Or Corbin?”

“I will speak to his lawyer and see if that may be arranged.” She said rising to her feet. She didn’t extend her hand. “In the meantime, if you need anything, ask Friday and she will see to it.” 

She gave him a last look, pity or perhaps sympathy, and walked away.

Jack sat at the table for a few minutes, collecting his thoughts. He got up and washed the blood off his arms, the minor wounds already scabbing over. He washed his blood off the table rinsing out the sponge. There were things a sorcerer could do with blood, and things a scientist could do also. He wished he’d thought about it in the infirmary, but it was too late now. He went back to his room, still out of sync with the time. The bed had been stripped, fresh linen replaced the ichor smeared and sweat stained sheets. His armor was piled in the corner and it was still dirty, though yesterday’s underwear and his tunic were missing. Jack shed his boots, turned on the TV, and let it play while he cleaned the leather. It was a drama that seemed convoluted past all reason and he stopped paying attention, as it devolved into background noise. A request to Friday and a white haired security guard brought a can of leather dressing. 

“Ya get all kinds.” the old man muttered to himself as he left.

Lunch was delivered, along with his now cleaned clothes by the same guy, a half hour later. Jack finished up his work, turned off the TV and laid down on the bed to think. Loki was stubborn, and touchy, and Stark had both insulted and threatened him. The offence Stark had offered to Loki was traditionally answered in blood. Either Thor had prevailed upon his brother to spare Stark’s life or, more likely in Jack’s opinion, what Loki wanted from Stark was something worth more to him then a balm to his pride. He wondered what it was. A potential threat to earth according to Ms. Potts. Maybe the same thing the invaders wanted? Why? What was Strange’s connection to all of this? Loki had blamed him for the invasion. Jack thought of the rift and shivered. There was an evil on the other side that called to the dark part of his own soul. It made him feel sick to think that Loki desired whatever that unknown malevolence was after.

Jack felt guilty for involving Stark. The guy had been trying to help him, even if such help was unwanted. But he wasn’t going to plead Stark’s case to Loki even if he had the chance. It was Stark’s interference that caused him to be here, away from his kid, and away from his owner. He hoped Corbin was OK, and wondered how much Loki had told him. Jack sighed, restless, he hadn’t heard a word back from anyone. What would happen to them if Loki did get the item of power? It had to be magic of some kind. What would he do with it? Loki was not stable, worse even then he’d been on Sakaar. His memory was defective and his seidr was building and fading unpredictably, scarcely under his control.

Jack ripped his circling thoughts away from Loki’s state of mind. He was a pawn here, and had no say in how Loki would move him. And he had little power at the moment. But Jack knew how to remedy that. The AI was recording him. So most likely someone was watching him, perhaps a security guard, but from what he’d observed of Stark, he wasn’t one to leave things he was interested in to his subordinates. He’d shown a definite interest in Jack, whether it was a frustrated paternal instinct, his heroic tendencies or that smoldering sexual hunger that Stark wore like a second skin and worked out in joking innuendos didn’t matter. Jack could use any of them. He just had to tap into Stark’s psyche to recharge. He loosened the bonds of his incubus nature.

Jack shut his eyes and imagined sitting at Loki’s feet, how Loki’s fingers would feel petting through his hair. How they would touch his cheek, the taste as he turned his head to kiss and suck them. Jack undid the jeans and slipped them off. He lay back and ran his palm over the bulge of his erection, hidden under the soft cotton of the boxers. He shut his eyes again and put two fingers of his right hand in his mouth touching his lips and lapping with his tongue. He moaned and stroked his left hand over his cock, rubbing through the material. He opened his mind and sent it questing, searching for an answering hunger.

Down in the lab Tony was taking apart the jointed arm of a service robot, hunting the flaw that caused this particular machine to freeze up. It was an ongoing problem and he was beginning to think the robot was goldbricking, to get out of cleaning the restroom floors. Even the simplest of his creations tended to develop personalities. He’d just checked the hydraulic lines when a sound from the monitor caught his attention. 

Tony glanced up to see Jack, his shirt rucked up to his armpits, and his boxers pushed down his thighs. Jack's back was arched and his wings spread across the bed, and he stroked his cock while he sucked his fingers. His tail was coiled like a snake around one ankle. Tony stared in fascination as the demon whimpered and squirmed, thrusting into one hand as he worked the fingers of the other in and out of his mouth, his face flushed and his eyes closed. The guy wasn’t bad looking, not drop dead gorgeous like his owner, but his slight build was lean and muscled. That was especially noticeable as his abs tensed with each rock of his hips.

“Please,” Jack moaned, “I want to be fucked. Want it bad! Fuck me, please, please, ah!

Tony’s heartbeat sped up, he opened his mouth to call for Friday to shut off the feed, when with a sudden movement Jack uncoiled his tail and brought the tip to his lips. Tony felt a tightness in his groin. He licked his own lips as the demon took the fingers from his mouth and replaced them with his tail tip, sucking the blunt between his lip, with obscene slurping noises. Tony touched the screen to bring the focus closer. 

Jack smiled as he was drawn to the lust emanating from the genius. Stark was watching him enveloped in a mist of orange red desire. Jack brushed the surface of that mind, hard and bright as a diamond. Stark’s thoughts were sealed away, Jack was no mind reader, but the emotions that roiled the air he could touch, feed on, even manipulate when they were this aroused. But Starks heated response needed no coaxing. 

Jack slid his spit wet fingers between his legs, bent his knees and tilted his hips until he reached his anus. With a low pitched whine he pushed two fingers into his ass. He worked his shaft in a steady rhythm, thrust his fingers in deeper and suckled on the end of his tail, his chin wet with saliva. Precum slickened his cock and he rubbed it with his thumb over the reddened head. He kicked off the boxers to raise his knees up and hold them apart with his wings. Showing off for his audience. Jack could feel the heat pouring off Stark’s aura and he fed on it, letting the other man’s lust fill him. 

Tony wasn’t aware exactly when he’d undone the front of his pants, but his cock was hard in his hand, and he was matching Jack’s strokes with his own. His gaze was focused on the screen where Jack was spread out as if in offering. He’d never considered that the demon’s wings were in reality, a specialized pair of arms, and the thin bones were just extra-long fingers, until he saw Jack use them to pull his legs open and put his ass on display. 

Jack’s tail slipped from his mouth and he brought it down between his legs taking his fingers from his asshole to guide the tip, gleaming with saliva, up his ass. The pulse of mental thirst that hit him from Stark almost tipped him over the edge.

Tony panted, as he watched Jack pull his fingers from his worked open hole. He imagined how his cock would feel going into that spit slick ring. He moaned aloud as Jack’s tail slithered like a serpent into the gap he wanted to fill. His cock was slick with precum every stroke increasing the pulsing need for release. 

Jack let go his tail, grabbed his balls and tugged, his other hand stroking his cock faster. He circled his hips, moved his tail in and out of his asshole and rutted into his own hand. He was in an ecstasy of feedback, his skin felt like it was on fire, his ass was stuffed full, the movement of his tail increasing the sensation. His cock throbbed warm and slick on his palm. He could feel Stark’s need, the pleasure that slammed like crashing waves through the other man’s body. Jack was lost, the boundaries between his and Stark’s feelings blurred together. He cried out, 

“Yes! Fuck me! Harder! Unnn! Unn! Tony!”

Tony’s hand was hot and tight around his cock, the vision of Jack writhing on his own tail as he rutted into his hand, drove him closer. He was caught in a web of aching need and heat flashed across his skin. When Jack shouted his name in a voice thick with lust, Tony’s cock pulsed and he came, his spend splashing across the work table in white arcs. 

Jack rocked his hips and howled as his cum spattered across his belly, his hand pumping fast as he milked spurt after spurt from his cock. His asshole spasmed around his twisting tail and he shuddered in the throes of orgasm. He shivered and humped and moaned, wringing every last pulse of pleasure from his body, till he collapsed gasping, spread out across the bed.

Tony stood breathless, one hand resting on the table the other still holding his cock. He blinked his eyes and shook his head to clear his mind. Did that perverted bastard just yell his name? He raised his eyes back to the screen.

Jack lay panting, his cock softening, his pulse pounding in his throat. The energy that built from Stark’s and his mutual masturbation was thrumming through his senses, filling his magic reserve with power. He tugged his tail tip from his ass with a grimace. He released his cock and wiped his seed from his belly, brought the sticky mess to his mouth and sucked each finger clean. Jack opened his sex glazed eyes, looked up, as though he could see Stark watching him and grinned.

“Like the show?” Jack asked.

Stark shut off the screen and turned away with an oath. He leaned back on the table and cursed Jack and Loki and magic, both in particular and general. Even Dr. Strange and his fascination with artifacts came in for a bit of swearing. When Tony’s temper finally cooled he turned back around, looked at the work table and sighed in relief. At least he’d missed the cleaning robot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used Stark when Jack was interacting or thinking of him and Tony when he was thinking of himself. Jack's calling him Tony was a deliberate action on Jack's part to bring Tony off.  
> Explanation for Jack's porn show. Jack is half incubus and he can recharge his limited magic, either through resting, which takes time or through feeding off psychic energy, which doesn't. The incubus can feed off of all kinds of psychic energy and potentially drain someone into the depths of an all consuming depression. Jack keeps that part of his nature strictly under control. It scares the crap out of him. Sexual energy is an easy, no guilt way for him to recharge without harming someone. The darker emotions can color his own personality so he avoids them.


	13. They carry news that must get through

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little magic, and its outcome.

Jack asked Friday for a few supplies and took a quick shower to clean up. He slipped the jeans on for the initial step of his plan. He was buzzing from the post sex high and the renewal of his magic. He sorted out the supplies, placing the watercolor paper, ink pot and brushes off to the side. He sat at the desk and plotted out the spell with pencil and paper, writing down the parameters and making sure the symbols were the best. He didn’t try to hide his work. For one thing, his notes were in the polyglot dialect that passed for a communal speech on Sakaar. For the other, his symbols were unique to his own self-taught magic. Stark could analyze it all he wanted but without a frame of reference it wouldn’t do him any good. 

Jack spent another twenty minutes carefully painting his twelve chosen symbols on the heavier paper, placing them in a circle as each was completed. He locked the door, stepped out of the pants and stood, wearing only his collar, in the middle of the circle. He spoke to the AI.

“Friday, I was told to ask for anything I needed and you would provide it.”

“That is correct Mr. Linden.”

“I need an uninterrupted hour. No one is to disturb me by speech, or sound or entering the room. It could be very hazardous to myself and the one causing the intrusion.”

“I will inform Mr. Stack of your request.”

“Of course. Please remind him that he is responsible for my continued wellbeing. I would hate to have anything happen to one of his employees or his property. I am starting the hour now.” 

Jack smiled. Stark was not stupid and Jack didn’t think he’d risk harming him by interrupting. He’d probably call his friend Dr. Strange, but Jack should be finished long before they figured it out. He focused his mind and let his magic run over his skin to activate the scars that bound the darker parts of his incubus half to his will. A poke with a claw and his fingertip welled with blood. He dripped a single drop onto each symbol, his power charging each one as his blood flowed over the ink in an impossibly thin sheet. 

Then Jack knelt and loosed the first of the bindings. The hunger was dulled, almost sated by the recent sex, but it stirred under his skin. Jack felt his body’s desire, but he leashed it easily to his will, the act so familiar it needed no magic. 

He slipped a second tie free. Rage seethed through his heart, roiling and red, Jack breathed it in and felt it surge in his veins. His heartbeat increased, his fists clenched he bared his teeth in a growl. The symbols glowed a soft blue white and the anger settled, still there, but no longer claiming his mind. Jack’s hands relaxed and his heartbeat slowed.

He took a slow third breath, and loosed a third binding. The air was filled with the taste of fears, some petty and transient, some deep and all-consuming. A banquet for him to feast on, a playground of vulnerable minds to twist into despair. He shuddered as the symbols around him glowed brighter, cutting him off from his victims. Sweat beaded his forehead as he fought the twisted need into a scrabbling submission.

Jack stared at the symbols, chanted their names, focusing on their entwined meanings in his mind, rallying his courage. He brushed his fingers over Loki’s signet and whispered a prayer for strength. Then he released the last chain that held the darkness within.

The room sharpened around him. Glittered with the dead power of human ingenuity flowing through the walls. Humans moved through the building, warm and soft, the evil like dark gems in their souls. Most had dim diamonds so tiny it was hardly worth harvesting, some carried fist sized lumps that cast a shadow on their souls, while a very few nurtured their grievances into cancerous growths that controlled their every thought. These were his, these bitter ones who would spread their poison corrupting all around them. He laughed low and licked his lips, anticipating the devastation, the pain he could engender with a promise of power, of sated lusts, of revenge. He snarled, there was a paltry cage that kept him from his rightful prey. He reached out to rip the glowing bars to shreds and the blue white light raced over his skin, burning into the marks that marred him. He screamed and tried to jerk back but the pain was stronger, an ice cold fire that sent frost patterns racing across the floor. 

Something tugged at the back of his mind. Power, he needed more power to break through. Not the degraded power entrapped in the flesh of humans, but something that was purer, darkness refined. He cast his ravenous need past the bars that held his corporal form. There, there was scent he could follow. Down and down into the very foundations of the building, shielded by metal and stone and the earth itself. It gleamed and beckoned within its own cage. This one not a simple network of bars, but spheres layering and spinning. Gold and red and white they shifted and realigned, never giving purchase, no gaps he could wedge his will through. Holding the dark beating heart from his grasp. He screamed in rage and beat against the bars that kept him caged. The cold drove him back, his own skin now a cage. His madness bled out into the symbols, his thoughts calmed. 

Jack shivered in the cold. He still knelt on the floor. He raised his head. Ice covered his skin, cracking as he moved. The papers were arrayed around him. He touched one and it shattered like glass. That set off a reaction that spread around the circle, the papers fragmenting with a whisper of sound, their remains drifting to the frost covered floor. He wondered how much was vision and how much had actually happened. It didn’t matter. The spell had worked. He knew where the artifact was hidden. It was safe from him. Even if he’d allowed the dark to take him completely over, if had allied it with the ice magic he used to keep himself under control, he was not strong enough to breach even the first sphere. 

Loki, however. Jack remembered how his seidr had burned after Corbin’s introduction to the council. Loki had both power and knowledge. He might be able to retrieve it. The thing that beat like a heart had no relevance to good or evil. It seemed to encompass a ruthless disregard of such categories. Yet it called not to his better nature. It called to his hunger. The thought terrified Jack. A hurricane was not evil, yet it destroyed everything in its path.

Jack climbed unsteadily to his feet. He staggered to the dresser and pulled the tunic over his head with shaking hands. He had just got the pants on when the door was thrown open. Stark was in the doorway his armor covering all but his face, his arm raised and a cluster of weaponry pointed at Jack’s head.

“Times up Bat boy, you want to tell me what you’re trying to pull?”

“Nothing at the moment.” Jack said, tying the laces closed. “I thought we’d already pulled everything that needed pulling.” 

He went for a lustful smirk and hoped Stark didn’t notice the trembling in his hands as he hid them behind his back. He hitched his butt on the dresser to keep from swaying. 

“But if you have need of more attention.” Jack continued. “Well, I wouldn’t say no to a more, personal touch.” 

“That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it.” Stark answered. “Try again.”

Jack noticed there was no blush to his face. The man obviously wasn’t overly bothered by what had happened earlier.

“Then the answer is no.”

Stark gestured to the melting frost and the scraps of paper scattered over the floor. “You leave a threatening, do not disturb message with my AI. Set your naked butt on the floor for an hour and proceed to turn part of my tower into a winter wonderland. Now you think you can get away with not answering any questions?”

“Yes. Though that’s the third time I’ve answered. I am cooperating.” Jack said. 

Jack hoped Stark would leave soon. There was a pulsing roar in his ears that made it hard to hear Stark, and the cold on his skin had turned to sweat. Darkness threatened the edges of his vision and it was getting harder to stay upright. There was a ripple in reality and Jack felt nauseous. A burst of familiar magic coiled across the floor. He dug his claws into the wood of the dresser desperately trying to stay conscious. The magic rose, green and glowing beside Stark. He turned toward it, retargeting the new threat and the world split open. Loki stepped through. He looked at Stark in amusement.

“This seems a bit repetitive,” Loki said, “and so soon after Ms. Potts and myself had reached an agreement on the return of my property.”

Stark lowered his hand and retraced the armaments. 

“Your boy here was working some kind of,” Stark paused and almost spat the word. “magic.”

Loki glanced at Jack, took in the remnants of frost and disintegrating paper.

“I don’t believe I gave you permission to do that Jack.” He said.

“You didn’t forbid me.” Jack answered

“True.” Loki cocked his head and gave Stark an appraising glance. “I find it quite puzzling that he had the power to work even a simple spell. No matter, he’s done no permanent harm.”

Loki waved his hand and the paper and ice were gone. He looked at Jack and pointed to his feet. Jack shoved off the dresser, took two wavering steps to Loki’s side and fell to his knees. He rested his head against his owner’s knee and sighed when Loki clipped a lead to his collar.

“If that is all?”

“Just, just get him out of here.” Stark said waving them away like pesky flies.

“Very well.” Loki said.

With a tug on Jack’s collar he turned and walked back into the split, Jack scrambling on all fours at his side. There was no time for questions, the path shifted under Jack’s hands and knees from polished concrete, to soft loam, to stony ground, to dry grass tall enough to brush his belly. He hurried as best he could, though the world was spinning even as it changed. His hands slipped on hard packed snow and he summersaulted onto his back. He saw Loki looming over him against a sky filled with a blaze of stars. He saw his mouth move, but the words were muffled. Loki frowned, reached down, hauled Jack to his feet and pitched him face first into a snow bank. 

The cold revived him and he sat up spitting snow from his mouth and brushing it from his hair and clothing.

“What the Hell?” Jack yelled.

“You looked like you were going to pass out. I remedied the situation. I would prefer to leave here before we attract unwanted attention.” Loki said and jerked on the leash.

Jack stood up and started toward Loki. A burst of magic hit the back of his knees and he fell to all fours again.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Jack said. “If you’re in such a hurry why do I have to crawl?”

“Because I wish you to.” Loki said, starting off again. 

Jack struggled to keep up with his long strides. At least he wasn’t getting kicked every few steps like last time. 

“I don’t see why you’re pissed at me.” Jack panted. “This wasn’t my fault.”

“Be silent Jack.” Loki said and the ground changed to soft dry sand.

Jack floundered up a sand dune, half throttled by the insistent pull on his throat.

“For fuck’s sake Loki.” Jack swore. “What is your goddamn problem?”

Loki spun on his heel and slapped Jack across the mouth, knocking him back on his heels. He started to protest and a gag tightened between his stinging lips. Loki jerked hard on the collar and Jack was back on his hands and knees, skidding down the far slope of the dune till they splashed across a pebbled stream and into the heavy shade of a forest. Between the collar and the gag Jack was fighting for air. His hands and knees were bruised and his shoulders ached. He almost sobbed in relief when the forest gave way to a Rowen copse and he struggled past the stumps of the tress he had cleared. The cabin was glowing with light and Jack collapsed in front of the stove as soon as they had entered.

Loki fell back in his chair and Jack looked up at his sigh of relief. Loki looked grey and there were shadows under his eyes. Jack considered for the first time the amount of magic it took to slip between the here and not here. He’d done it for a space of a couple of miles and it had left him delirious with fatigue. Loki had walked halfway across a world then back with a passenger. No wonder he was tired and short of temper. Jack crawled to his side and curled up against his shin. After a moment Loki dropped a hand down to his head and slender fingers curled in his hair. The gag disappeared. Jack for once held his tongue. He got to his feet, and checked the kettle, and made tea. While it was brewing he cut some bread, and spread it with butter and lingonberry jam. He poured a cup and brought the tea and snack to Loki and knelt while he ate. Loki took a second cup of tea while Jack washed his plate. When he returned to his place, Loki his pushed his booted feet toward Jack.

Jack paused. "Am I to remove your boots, or lick them clean?" He asked.

Loki smiled. "Your choice, little demon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally back in New Asgard. Some answers next chapter.


	14. To build a dream for me and you,oh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of care, a little porn and a puzzle to work out.

Jack smiled back. “Feeling a little nostalgic?” 

That earned him a soft chuckle. Jack bent and kissed the toe of each of Loki’s boots. The taste of leather and drying mud, was gritty on his lips. He wanted to find out just how much trouble he was in and why. Giving his master a show of extreme submission, while it might be titillating on his part, didn’t seem like it was the best method of getting answers. Besides, he wasn’t in the mood after the encounter with Stark and crawling on his hands and knees for what felt like a mile, (though it was probably only a couple of hundred yards.) He sat back up and pulled Loki’s boots off.

“If I may, I’d rather serve you otherwise.” Jack said.

Loki nodded, raised his hand dismissively, leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes. 

Jack filled a large bowl with hot water and set it on the floor by Loki’s chair. He retrieved a towel, washcloth and a bottle of scented oil from the bathroom. He sat cross legged on the floor, pulled off Loki’s socks and proceeded to wash and dry his owner’s feet. Loki watched him from under half closed lids. Jack poured a little oil onto his hands and rubbed them together to warm it up. He started on Loki’s left foot, rubbing the oil into the sole. He gently massaged with his fingertips over the bottom in small circles. Jack’s eyes were shut as he worked his thumbs over the delicate bones and tendons, from toes to ankles, all his attention focused on easing any tension. He found the complex architecture of the body beautiful, especially in the details of face and hands and feet. It was an esthetic appeal rather than a sexual one.

He heard Loki sigh as the knots released. Jack rested Loki’s left foot on his thigh and repeated the massage on the right foot. He was deep in the experience of touch, his original reasons for the massage forgotten in the pleasurable pursuit of Loki relaxing under his hands. He worked over the hard bones of the ankle and up the Achilles tendon, stopping only when the leather pants prevented him from going over the calf muscles.

Jack opened his eyes and said softly. “I could do more if you were wearing less.”

Loki appraised Jack for a moment, stood up and walked over to the bed pulling off his clothing on the way. Jack followed taking his garments and folding them, and putting them on the sideboard. 

“You may make a decent valet with enough training.” Loki said as he stretched out, face down on the bed, clad in his undershorts. He looked over his shoulder at Jack. “Don’t get any ideas, I’m not in the mood.”

“You are asking the impossible my lord.” Jack said as he sat beside Loki on the bed. “I cannot help but get ideas. I will do my best to keep them to myself.”

Jack let his eyes run over Loki’s lean body. The fair skin was marked with scars, some pale and faded to near invisibility, others were more recent and formed ridged lines. He wished not for the first time that he could smooth them away. Jack rubbed more oil onto his hands and massaged up Loki’s calves, and thighs. Jack was absorbed in kneading the taunt muscles and feeling them soften and warm. Loki’s purring sounds of pleasure gave him a quiet happiness.

Jack stopped and said, “I can get your back better if you let me straddle you.”

“Umm hmm.” Loki murmured.

Which was close enough for Jack. He swung a leg over Loki’s hips and leaned forward on his hands, starting at the small of the back. He worked out from Loki’s spine, loving the way he seemed to melt and relax into the bed. His hands massaged over Loki's back until he reached the shoulder blades. He sunk his fingers deep into the trapezius muscles and feeling the knots release. Jack started to slide his thumbs up the back of Loki’s neck, but he felt Loki tense. He stopped even as he heard; 

“No!” Loki’s voice was sharp and held an edge of fear. 

Jack’s hands were already back on Loki’s shoulders. The response had startled him. 

“I’m sorry. I won’t touch you there.” Jack said, not knowing what he’d done.

He rubbed the newly tensed muscles. Loki took a deep breath. 

“No matter.” Loki said.

Jack, no longer caught up in giving the massage, worked his hands over Loki’s upper arms and ventured a question.

“Why were you mad at me?”

“Why would you think I was angry with you?” Loki returned.

“You made me crawl back. My knees are bruised. And my hands are sore from the ground.” He rubbed down Loki’s forearms to his wrists.

“So sore you decided to give me a rub down?”

Jack stroked his thumbs over the palms of Loki’s hands, his fingers caressing the backs.

“The oil makes my hands feel better, and the rubbing keeps them from getting stiff. Plus I like doing this. But you are avoiding the question.” 

“Perhaps I simply like seeing you on your hands and knees, trying to keep up, like a dog with too short legs.” Loki said. “I must say, I find I prefer the sound of you gasping for breath, over your incessant prattling.”

Those words sent a thrill down Jack’s spine straight to his groin. He became hyper aware of the touch of Loki’s hips on the inside of his thighs, and how warm the curve of his rump was against his own butt. He went up on his knees, leaned forward and brushed a kiss over Loki’s shoulder blade. 

“There is more than one way to make me gasp for breath.” Jack said.

“Perhaps.” said Loki and turned onto his back. “You missed a spot.” He added, glancing down to where his cock tented his undershorts.

“Oh!” Jack said. His own hardening cock was uncomfortably trapped in his pants. He moved down and settled between Loki’s knees. He lowered his head and breathed hot over the material, then nuzzled his cheek against the warm length of Loki’s shaft. 

“I believe I’d like those off now.” Loki said as Jack continued to rub his face against Loki’s cloth covered groin.

Jack wondered for a moment that Loki didn’t magically remove the underwear and realized how fatigued he must be. He pulled the shorts off, freeing Loki’s cock. Its length and width perfectly in scale to rest of Loki’s body. A darker pink, the head flushed red, set against the black curls and rising smooth and straight from his balls. Jack moaned and pressed his nose to the base and breathed in Loki’s scent of arousal and male musk and that odd touch of cedar. He quivered with desire. He licked his lips to wet them and kissed up the warm length. Jack glanced up at Loki and licked his tongue out, lapping the sensitive spot just under the head.

Loki's breath quickened, he met Jack’s glance with a smug smile.

“You like sucking cock don’t you?”

“No.” Said Jack, as he licked back down to Loki’s sac.

He grinned up at Loki’s incredulous look. “I love sucking cock. Yours to be precise.” He lapped the soft skin, feeling the testicles move under his tongue. “Sometimes I think I’d rather have your cock in my mouth than anywhere else.” 

“It does seem a good way to keep you quiet.” Loki said and then gasped as Jack slid his wet lips over the head and down the length of his cock.

Jack sucked and bobbed his head, the thick shaft filling his mouth, rubbing on his tongue and pallet. The pressure and warmth relaxed him, comforted him even as it aroused. Jack shut his eyes and moaned in pleasure.

“Relatively quiet.” Loki amended.

Jack chuckled with Loki’s cock at the entrance to his throat, which sent vibrations down the length of Loki’s shaft.

“Ah.” Loki sighed.

Loki’s fingers tangled in the demon’s hair. He rocked his hips, thrusting into Jack’s mouth, the warmth bleeding into a slick coolness that felt even better. White was spreading like a reverse blush across Jack’s face. Blue ran over Loki’s skin from his hand and groin. Light at first then shading to deep blue, kin markings raised like welts.

“Jack.” Loki said.

Jack opened his eyes, lifted his head and lapped cold over Loki’s cock. Loki noticed his eyes had gone solid glacier blue and his tongue was long and dark, and he could feel sharp points breaking the skin of Jack’s scalp. Jack blinked and suddenly pulled away, remembering what Loki had done to him the last time they had both transformed.

“I’m not doing this, I swear I didn’t mean to.” Jack cried raising his hands in supplication. “I’m trying not to change.”

“It’s all right little demon.” Loki said. “Come here. I won’t hurt you. I wish to understand what triggers this transformation.”

He half guided, half pulled a trembling Jack up beside him. Loki’s red eyes were curious. He cupped Jack’s chin and looked into his eyes. This close he could see there were graduations in the color, the cobalt shading darkest in the center. Jack’s teeth were more pointed and the lower part of his face was slightly projecting. The claws on his hands were longer also and a grey color. The short black fur on his wings was thinner giving them a greyish cast. 

“You say you are trying not to change. How so?” Loki asked. 

He could feel the low thrum of power under Jack’s clothes.

“I use the magic I’ve carved in my skin. It’s what I did all the binding magic for in the first place, so I can keep from changing into Ice demon form, and so I can control the Incubus’ evil.” Even though they aren’t the same thing. But it’s so hard to keep from shape changing when,” Jack lowered his head and licked the back of Loki’s hand. “When you touch me, and I think you’ll fuck me. Though I know my Ice demon shape is ugly.”

“Strip.” Loki said. “I wish to see you, little beast.”

Jack peeled off his clothing. He looked at Loki, beautiful in his deep blue skin, his eyes glowing like embers in the low light. Jack could not meet those eyes, he was afraid and aroused at the same time. When Loki placed a cool hand on his shoulder and pulled him back down to his side. Jack didn’t know whether to cringe or snuggle up. He took the chance and pressed into the embrace.

Loki stroked down the smaller man’s chest. The knotwork patterns carved into the snowy skin glowed bright blue. He could feel Jack’s heart beating fast under his palm. His own magic was pulsing under his skin and the cold radiating off Jack felt like a welcome breeze on a hot day. Loki waved his hand and the fire died in the stove and the windows opened to the late night air. The cabin felt oppressively hot to his Jötun form. 

Loki hated the thought of Thor or another Aesir, or even a human seeing him like this. But Jack? Jack was neither, a creature of mixed blood and burdened with his own unwanted heritage. His status was so low his opinion hardly mattered. Even so, Loki knew that Jack didn’t judge his Jötun appearance, in fact he thought it beautiful. The little Loki had been able to dredge from the redacted records of the war told that the Ice demons of Niflheim had allied with the Jötnar. The hatred for the Ice Giants instilled in Loki for a thousand years meant nothing to Jack. If Loki was to stop this change from happening he needed to understand why touching the beast most of the time didn’t cause it.

“Stop fighting the shapeshift Jack.” Loki said. “I need to watch it happen.”

Loki extended his magic over Jack, testing. The demon whimpered and nuzzled his shoulder. Jack's power lessoned, his magic only a soft haze of light over his skin. His form shifted, his skin changed till it felt like suede against Loki’s body. The muscles, bones and tendons became more apparent as the subcutaneous fat thinned and his limbs and neck lengthened. Jack's face pushed out into a muzzle and his teeth changed to fangs, thin and sharp. Black quills grew in a line down his spine, over his head and in a cluster at the end of his tail. His short claws grew to an inch long, heavy and black and the fur on his wings disappeared leaving them leathery and as white as the rest of his skin. He looked like a creature designed solely for killing.

Jack’s expression in this form was no harder for Loki to read. He was frightened and submissive, the quills on his head were laid flat to his scalp and partly covered by his ebony hair. His claws were retracted as far as they would go. He folded his wings were over the sharp spins down his back and the spiked end of his tail was hanging off the bed, where it could do no harm. He was panting, his cobalt eyes open wide. As Loki ran his eyes and his magic over Jack’s body, it was apparent he was also intensely aroused. His cock was hard on his belly, flushed a soft pink that matched his parted lips and pebbled nipples. Jack really was visually unappealing to Loki in his Ice demon shape. He looked starved and his face was inhuman and the teeth and quills and claws were anything but inviting. Jack’s skin however, was smooth and deliciously cool against Loki's hand.

Loki frowned dismissed the intruding thought. He contemplated how their magics interacted. Jack’s ice magic, though much weaker, was similar to the way the Casket of Winters felt in Loki’s hands. A cold power he could manipulate, something that resonated deep within and called to him on an instinctual level. The same power which triggered his shape shift to Jötun. Intertwined with that was a sensual magic, which tempted his baser nature, promising physical pleasure. Incubus and Ice demon magic combined to entice. Laid over both was a third connection. An ancient geas that bound Niflheim’s people to the royal family of Jötunheimr. 

Loki teased that line of connection out. He examined it dispassionately, his arousal slackened by the puzzle he was determined to solve. Loki traced the triple threads of power that were woven into Jack’s spirit and body. They were rooted in procreation. Like the Aesir and Jötnar, the Ice demons and Jötnar could breed. Corbin alone was proof of that. Jack was the last of his kind and the impetus to reproduce was strong. This was what had driven their unintentional shape change. Jack needed to be shifted at least partially to Ice demon form to be fertile and Loki had to be in his Jötun form to get him with child. 

Loki considered. The idea of breeding the demon again was not without its merits. Corbin would not be alone. A sibling of their own kind would make their life easier. Jack was a caring parent, and more them willing to put his children’s needs over his own. Loki could raise this child, teach him magic as his mother had taught him. Plus there was the undeniable temptation to create his own race of monsters, throw his heritage in the face of the remaining Aesir, even in Thor’s face. “Now do you see me brother? Do you see this thing you profess to love?” Loki chuckled. To have his deciding thought be one of the mischief he would cause, pleased him. 

Not tonight though. Not while his memory was fragmented and his seidr unreliable. Not while he lived here, on the edge of the compound and away from those vulnerable to his power.

With Thor’s attention and love, guilt induced though it may be, Loki was healing. The recent battle was only the second time he’d been asked to assist the Avengers. It was part of the deal his brother had struck to allow Loki to stay on earth. The other part, was that he wouldn’t leave the compound without Thor. Loki smirked, with the unwitting help of the demon who was presently shivering beside him, he’d managed to get that restriction lifted. In return for dropping the kidnapping and related charges, Loki had regained his freedom of movement. That is, as long as he didn’t cause any trouble for the heroes. 

Jack licked a wet tongue over his ribs. “You never answered why you were mad at me.” He said.

“You inconvenienced me, Jack.” Loki said. “I have better things to do then waste my time in petty lawsuits. Stark was given reasons for assuming you didn’t wish to be in my company. Or did you forget what you did that precipitated his belief?”

“What? You said I was your slave and then…”

“Before that. You were indulging yourself in a fit of self-pity and when Stark intervened. You played on his sympathies for attention, you baited him with knowledge of Sakaar, and you agreed that I was, as he put it an asshole. When he objected to your status as a thrall, you did not contradict his assumption until after he threatened me and I left to prevent further conflict.” Loki tilted Jack’s chin up so he was forced to meet those ruby eyes. “Is any part of this wrong?”

“No, but I didn’t mean to... I never intended…” Jack trailed off. 

He had liked Stark’s attention. He’d been feeling alone and distraught and the man’s concern had warmed him. He’d loved it when Loki had warned Strange off and Stark had threatened the wizard. When Loki had punched Strange, it made Jack feel important. He’d liked Stark and Loki arguing over him and Loki’s statements of ownership. The thought that Loki might punch Stark too, or Stark might fire on Loki was why he held his tongue, instead of correcting Stark’s mistaken view immediately. He’d wanted to see Loki, not really harmed, but knocked down a peg. That he was upset by his role in the battle and overstimulated by the noise and people and the smell of blood didn’t completely excuse his actions. 

“You will learn to think before you act little demon.” Loki said. “For now though,” Loki ran a nail up the underside of Jack’s erection, “Go to sleep Jack. Don’t even think about touching yourself.” 

Loki shoved Jack off the bed and the demon retreated to the sheepskin. Jack wasn’t going to even try arguing. He was happy to be home and a case of unrequited lust was a small price to pay. He curled up on the floor and in a few moments he was asleep.

With Jack gone from his bed, Loki’s form shifted back to normal and he pulled the blankets up in the sudden chill. It took the last of his energy to close the windows and relight the fire. Loki lay in the darkened room. The demon’s slow breathing soothed him. Loki prayed for sleep, for forgetting. It was almost dawn before his prayers were answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now a bit of what's been going on is cleared up. Jack was wrong about Loki's motivation in bringing charges against Stark. Repercussions for Jack's assumption to follow.


	15. They choose the path where no one goes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home again. Family and obligations. Jack tries to do the right thing.

When Jack woke the sun was well up. Loki was sleeping soundly and Jack quietly washed and dressed without waking him. He shifted to his incubus form and borrowed one of Loki’s tunics. Jack didn’t like the restrictions this body imposed, even though he’d worn it most of his life. On Sakaar he’d learned who he truly was and had adopted the shape midway between that of his parents. But the incubus looked like a human and that was how Loki had introduced him to the locals. He still found it strange that it was his mother’s genetics that had allowed him to grow up looking like he was human and his father's that had caused him to act like one. But it made sense, after all you couldn’t seduce people into trusting you if you looked like something that would eat them. Jack scrawled a note telling Loki he was visiting his son and would be back soon. 

The morning was mild and snow had melted off the trail and it was fast retreating elsewhere. People were out on the streets, but Jack didn’t attract attention in his plain clothing and he arrived at Thrudheim without incident. Corbin was at breakfast when Jack was shown to his rooms. Corbin looked every inch a prince, having adopted Aesir fashions, except for the shoes. The worn blue sneakers made Jack smile. They embraced and Jack was happy to see his child looking so relaxed and happy. Corbin asked about his trip to New York and Jack quickly found out that they were under the impression that he’d been assisting Stark. Jack didn’t enlighten them on the incident. The lie of omission had been to keep Corbin from worrying, and in truth Jack was never under any threat. 

Corbin left to attend his morning lessons with the promise of coming by the cabin for dinner. Jack finished his coffee and went out in the corridor. The guard who had escorted him to Corbin’s room, listened to his request and led him downstairs. He was left in the care of a clerk, busy writing up the day’s work on what at first looked like paper, but Jack soon realized it was some kind of ultra-thin computer. Whether ran by tech or magic, or a combination of both, Jack was unsure. It used an input device which resembled a quill pen and wrote with a gold glowing line. Jack couldn’t read the language but it didn’t stop his fascination with how the words would first look like gold, then turn black as though cooling, and finally scroll themselves off the paper as the clerk reached the bottom of the page. Jack wished he’d dared to ask questions about the device, when his escort returned and guided him away. It was a short walk down the hall to the king’s private quarters. Jack took a deep breath and braced himself for the meeting.

Thor was behind a large desk in his private office. He didn’t rise when Jack was brought in and dismissed the guard with a word. There was no welcoming smile for Jack.

“Well?” Thor said. His face was carefully blank, his tone neutral. 

Jack bit his lip, looked away from that steely gaze, took a deep breath. 

“I wanted to, uh, thank you for your, your taking an interest in Corbin. He, they,” Jack corrected, “said that you have spent time together every day since he, I mean they, have been here. Corbin admires you and I just, uh, wanted to say thanks.” 

God, Jack thought, I sound like a complete idiot.

“It is my duty as king to see to the education of a prince.” Thor said. “Corbin is an intelligent and engaging young person. It is no hardship to spend time in their company.” 

It irked Jack that Thor seemed to have no trouble using non-binary pronouns.

“If that is all, I have a kingdom to run.” Thor said, and glanced down at the work on his desk.

“No!” Jack blurted. He put his hand over his mouth as Thor jerked his head up. 

“I mean that’s not all your majesty.” Jack swallowed, he could feel the nervous sweat break on his forehead. 

“Out with it then.” Thor allowed a bit of irritation to creep into his voice.

“I wanted to apologize for the other day when you tried to compliment me and I snapped at you and I really shouldn’t have because you were being nice and it wasn’t your fault I was all fucked up from the fight.” Jack jabbered. “Mentally I mean. I was. Fucked up. I’m sorry.”

Thor frowned, puzzled out the meaning. Nodded.

“Apology accepted.” He said. And waited.

Jack bit his lip again. Thor really scared the crap out of him. Which meant he wanted to piss Thor off. A stupid reaction, but fear was stupid. He bit back the impulse and tried again, forcing himself to speak slower.

“I know you don’t like me, but could we call a truce?”

“It matters not if I like you, I do not trust you, Jack.”

Jack tried to phrase his words carefully. “I know how much you love him.” 

Thor frowned. “If you mean to threaten…”

“I also know how much your love means to him.” Jack quickly continued. “I don’t want to be a cause for dissent between you two. Please, Thor. Believe that. Loki’s important to me also.”

Jack looked away. “Even though I know I mean little to him.”

Thor sighed. “You are an idiot if you believe that.” He said. “Loki is very protective of his possessions. He does not give them up willingly. I sometimes think if he had to choose between keeping a friend and keeping a book, the book would stay.”

Jack thought about it and smiled. “Maybe that’s why he refers to you as " _my_ brother".” 

Thor grinned for the first time since Jack had entered the room. “Perhaps.” Thor said. “Is there anything else?”

“Am I really a thrall, as Loki said?” Jack asked.

“It is true that the laws about thralls have never been rescinded, but I believe under challenge, they would be struck from the books.” Thor answered.

“I don’t want that, I just want to know what it means to be a thrall. Do I have any rights?”

“I’ll send you to...” Thor thought for bit, shook his head. “So many of them are dead, I’ll have to ask who of the scholars has the best command of the old laws. What I remember from our training is that there are three ways one becomes a thrall. The first is to commit a serious crime, the second is to go into honorable debt and be unable to pay, and the third is to be purchased as an outsider. Only the second is transferrable to the second generation and that just until the debt is paid. You would fall into the third category.”

“So my children are freeborn?”

“Yes. A thrall’s children take their status from their freeborn parent.” Thor paused in thought. “The master is required to provide food, clothing, shelter and medical care if the thrall becomes injured or ill. After that the rules differ. Had you been of Asgard or Vanaheim you would retain certain rights to own property and be assured of fair treatment, as well as being held responsible for your own actions. However as you are not and he received you as a gift, you are classified as property. Your rights extend only to that of life and relative health. He may do as he wishes with you as long as he does not seriously maim you or kill you out of hand. Also Loki is responsible for any misdeeds you commit, the same as if a dog were to bite or a bull to gore. Of course such behavior on your part would be a justifiable excuse to kill you.”

“Ah.” Jack said. 

“Now get out.” Thor said with a frown. “Do not further presume on your relationship to Loki or Corbin to bother me again.” 

Jack bowed stiffly and left before he said anymore. Thor’s last words irritated him. He’d been polite, and yet Loki’s brother was still treating him like something he’d wipe off the sole of his shoe. He stalked out of the building glaring at any who’d dare look at him. Jack quickly left the town behind and strode down the path fuming. Who the fuck did he think he was, the stuck up bastard? King of a little shithole of a village, on the ass end of the earth and peopled by a bunch of idiots that looked like refugees from a renaissance fair. Jack was muttering and cursing as he hurried unheeding to Loki’s cabin.

He practically threw the door open and stomped inside. Loki was standing by the stove and turned as Jack entered seemingly unperturbed. 

“Your brother is a complete asshole!” He snarled at Loki. “I tried to be nice, I fucking apologized for blowing off his stupid comment back in New York. And do you know what he said? _"I don’t trust you."_ You wanna know something?”

“Not particularly.” Loki answered, taking eggs from the pan and putting them on his plate.

“ _I_ don’t fucking trust _him!_ He’s the one keeping you in the dark, not me.” Jack ranted. “What the hell kind of brother, or whatever it is between you two, what the hell kind of man tries to keep his loved one ignorant?”

“Are you quite finished?” Loki said as he moved to the table and poured himself a cup of tea.

“No I’m not! I’m sick of his shit.” Jack said pacing back and forth. “I haven’t done anything to justify the way he acts toward me. Name one goddamn thing I’ve done that shows I can’t be trusted.”

“Ran complaining to me like an ill bred child, to attempt to put a wedge between my brother and I?” Loki said and took a bite of his eggs.

“What? I didn’t. I mean. I…”Jack stopped. “Fuck.”

“Precisely,” Loki said. “Now take off my tunic, put on your own clothing. You will finish clearing those dead trees today. As you are. I don’t need you upsetting the patrols.”

Jack shut his mouth and quickly divested himself of Loki’s tunic. He hunted through his pack and pulled on a shirt without the wing slits and put it on. Loki motioned him over as he headed toward the door.

“Jack, Thor is King of Asgard, the man responsible for stopping the Titan who killed half the life in the galaxy, and he was key in reversing those deaths. He is also my brother and my love. Were it not for Thor I would be dead.” Loki said. “You will not speak ill of him or with such disrespect again.” 

“But,” Jack started.

Loki raised his hand to Jack’s mouth and Jack felt a sudden chill on his tongue. 

“Do you understand?” Loki asked.

Jack tried to reply and no sound came out. His tongue moved, he could breathe but he could not produce a single word. He scowled at Loki.

“Don’t look so offended, I could have taken your voice in much harsher ways.” Loki said. “You’ve proven unable to behave, little demon, so you will have to earn your right to speak. I suggest you use your time wisely and reflect on your actions.” 

Jack slunk outside, feeling guilty because of how quickly he'd betrayed his own promise to Thor. He found the tools, sharpened the ax, oiled the saw and went to work on the remaining dead trees. It was hard work trimming them, the wood was tough and springy. The logs, though not huge, were big enough that he had trouble rolling them over to work on. He sorted out the larger branches and hauled the smaller branches to a pile. The day was warm for Autumn and Jack peeled off his shirt before an hour was up. His hands blistered as he worked, the blisters broke and he had to pause to heal them. There was no healing the ache of his muscles. Nor could he find relief in the work for his thoughts. Reflect were his orders and reflect he did. It took him a while to sort out what he thought was simple irritation at Thor’s arrogance. It wasn’t pleasant looking into his own mind. He also thought about the mistake he had made in hunting down the location of the artifact. He wondered if he should tell Loki, but decided against it. Disclosing his spell casting could only get him in trouble and he hadn't actually done anything with the knowledge.

Loki brought him lunch and Jack sat on a log and ate the sandwiches while his owner inspected his work. He surmised that Loki could probably clear this all away with a wave of his hand. So either he had a reason for not using magic on the wood, or this was an object lesson for Jack. Maybe both. Loki returned and stroked his hand through Jack’s hair as he sat finishing his meal. Jack leaned into the touch and felt himself relax. 

“It is acceptable. You need to increase the pace so you will be finished in time to cook dinner.” Loki said. “You invited Corbin to dine.”

At Jack’s gesture of bewilderment Loki pulled out Jack’s phone. “He called me, Jack. This device, though primitive, works well enough for passing messages. I have not neglected our child in your absence.”

Loki left on errands of his own and Jack returned to work. The sun was low in the sky by the time the last of the downed trees was reduced to logs and piled brush. Jack was staggering with weariness, his hands shook as he cleaned the tools and put them away. His pants were damp with sweat and hung low on his hips, the sweat band he’d fashioned from a rag was soaked. He picked up his shirt and went into the house, wondering how he was going to prepare a meal when he could barely get his aching hands to close. A hot shower remedied the stiffness. Jack threw together a quick stew from leftovers, sliced bread and made a salad. He had just laid the table for three, when Loki and Thor returned with Corbin in tow.

Jack hadn’t expected Thor. He was angry that Loki hadn’t said anything about his brother coming. But his anger was doused when Thor handed him a huge basket containing a freshly cooked roast and two pies. Loki came over and tapped Jack on the lips as he was putting out the extra food.

“Mind your tongue.” He said as he removed the spell.

“Yes my lord.” Jack said. 

Corbin was in a chatty mood and regaled them with the exploits of their magic lesson for the day. The students were learning to control fire, and had apparently set everything but the candles alight, including each other. It was an amusing story and Jack enjoyed listening while he took up the food and passed out the loaded dishes. When he got to his own plate he didn’t know where to set it. There were only three chairs in the cabin and Loki had seated Thor, Corbin, and himself around the table. He glanced at Loki with a questioning look.

“On the floor Jack.” Loki answered him aloud and pointed to the side of his chair.

Jack flushed as Thor and Corbin turned to look at him. To be made to sit at his owner’s feet in front of his child was mortifying. Loki turned away and asked Corbin a question about the fire spell. Jack sighed took his food and sat cross legged at Loki’s side. He ate with his head down in silence. Thor and Loki engaged Corbin in lively conversation. It wasn’t until Corbin called “Papa?” That he looked up.

“What is it little bird?” Jack said trying to keep his voice normal.

“Are you doing this for me?” Corbin’s voice sounded worried. “So I can be a prince?”

The brothers were silent, their conversation on hold.

“No my love. You will be a prince no matter what I do or do not do.” Jack answered.

“So why, Papa?”

“Because I am bound to Loki. I gave him my word, a long time ago, before you were born that I would serve him.” Jack answered.

“OK. But why are you sitting on the floor?”

“Because Jack has trouble with controlling his temper.” Loki answered. “I am helping your Papa learn there are consequences to his actions. He must earn the right to a chair by showing he knows how to behave.” 

Jack’s face flamed in shame but he nodded his head.

“Oh.” said Corbin. “Is that so you won’t divorce him for arguing all the time?”

“In a manner of speaking.” Loki answered.

“I wish Daddy had tried that.” Corbin said.

“Corbin!” Jack said.

“It’s true! You were always fighting with him.” Corbin cried. “And Daddy was nice to you! He was nice to everyone.”

“Corbin don’t speak to your Papa like that. Whatever happened between him and his husband, he deserves your respect.” Loki said.

Loki patted Jack on the cheek. “I think it’s time for dessert, Jack. Corbin, help your Papa. It’s a pleasant evening, we will finish the meal outside.” 

Jack appreciated Loki’s way of changing the subject. He and Corbin cleared the table, cut slices of pie, and poured three mugs of tea and a glass of mead for Thor. Together they brought the food and drinks out into the cool evening air. The logs made for makeshift seats and tables and Thor told them a tale of ancient Asgard, as the sunset painted the sky in pastels. 

Surprisingly it was Loki who started the impromptu game of tag by shoving Thor off his log when the story ended. Thor roared with laughter and jumped toward Jack and Corbin. The three adults stayed grounded while Corbin flitted into the air to avoid their grasping hands and used his tail to flick out and tag the unwary. Loki added doubles enough to confuse everyone and Jack used his glamor to hide as he trotted around the clearing, too tired to run. The game finally ended when full dark descended. After goodbye hugs Thor escorted Corbin back to Thrudheim, while Jack cleaned the dishes. 

“What did you learn today, little demon?” Loki asked as Jack was scrubbing out the stew pot.

“That cutting trees up is hard work and never bet on Corbin losing in a game of tag.” Jack said.

“Jack, do not try my patience.” 

Jack sighed. He’d hoped that Loki wouldn’t ask him about the results of his reflections.

“I got mad at Thor ‘cause I’m jealous of him, because you love him. And you have years of history with him. I can’t compete with that. I’m afraid that you‘ll grow tired of me and throw me away. And he acts like people who aren’t like him aren’t people.” Jack said, “Maybe I get angry because of the evil in me. The incubus. I can’t stop it every time. The bindings don’t always control it.”

 

“You’re wrong that he doesn’t consider different species people. You’ve never seen him with Rocket or Groot or all his human friends for that matter. Would you have him stand in a battle and weep for his enemies as they slaughter the innocent?” Loki said. “I’m not going to throw you away. You are mine Jack. There is no competition. That I love him has no bearing on your situation.” 

Loki shook his head, clearly annoyed.

“You’re using magic as a substitute for self-control.” He continued. “You can’t blame your blood for every wrong you commit.”

“You do.” Jack said. He covered his mouth with his wet hands as though to stop the words which had already escaped.

Loki walked over to Jack and took his hands from his mouth. Jack was trembling in terror, his eyes pinpointed, his face blanched. 

Loki chewed on his lower lip as he looked at the frightened demon. “I have been too harsh with you. It is not in my nature to be unnecessarily cruel. I wish you to learn to control yourself Jack, not live in dread of my wrath.” 

He looked weary and sad and Jack’s fear fled, replaced by the urge to comfort. He squeezed Loki’s hands. 

“I was wrong to say that. I have not the right to judge you.” Jack said.

“No you don’t. Nor are your words entirely true.” Loki replied. “We will discuss this later. Thor will be here shortly. Open your mouth little demon. I don’t want you talking anymore tonight.”

Jack complied and the spell coiled cool over his tongue. Before Loki could take his hand away Jack kissed his fingertips. Loki looked amused at his action. 

“You are a naughty little beast and I think you need a reminder of what happens to bad demons.”

Loki's words were threatening, but there was a smile on his lips that sent a thrill straight to Jack’s groin. He nodded eagerly and Loki laughed out loud. 

“Put on your night clothes Jack. I want you ready when Thor arrives.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made up the thrall stuff, mostly from things I barely/badly remember about Irish pre-Christian laws.   
> Jack is an idiot. He'd try the patience of a saint and Loki is anything but. Thor has seen through him from the start, and simply doesn't have time for his shit. He puts up with him solely for Loki and now Corbin's sake. But Loki has a plan to teach his annoying pet.   
> More fun and games to follow.


	16. They hold no quarter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Training the demon, with a little help.

Jack changed into pajama pants, the small slit below the waist band to accommodate a tail he no longer had, was not a problem, but the openings for his missing wings caused the shirt to droop off his shoulders and leave his back exposed to the cold. Loki wordlessly pointed him toward a soft top in dark green. It was a little big on Jack, but at least he was warmer. This shape was not happy in the relative chill of the cabin.

Loki was at the table fussing with a bowl of water, mixing in scented oils and gels as Jack dressed. Loki added a comb and hair ties to the collection of bottles on the table. He called the demon to his feet and had Jack sit facing away from him, his back against the chair’s seat and Loki’s knees touching his shoulders.

“I used to style Thor’s hair.” Loki said. He picked up a comb and dipped it into the water. “Left to himself he would look like a barbarian. Now that he’s finally allowed his hair to grow, it will soon be long enough to require my attentions.” 

Loki ran the wet comb through Jack’s hair, dampening the course strands. Jack shut his eyes, the stroke of the comb was relaxing. As he couldn’t answer Loki’s words, little was required of him but to sit quietly. He yawned. It had been a long day.

“You, little beast,” Loki said tugging a section of hair, “will serve as the model, that I may show Thor different styles.”

“Um hmm.” Jack hummed, soft sounds were as close to speech as the spell allowed.

It was soothing to feel those deft fingers in his hair, the occasional tugs or directing prods not enough to rouse him from his increasing drowsiness. Jack knew his eyes had closed at some point, and he meant to open them, but he couldn’t bother with it at the moment. Loki spoke softly of inconsequentialities, his words lulling. At some point the braiding stopped but Jack didn’t notice. He did however become gradually aware that a deeper timbered voice had been added.

“… don’t trust him, Loki. I’m uncertain what you mean to accomplish by this action.” 

Thor, Jack thought, puzzled that he hadn’t heard him arrive.

“You’d be a fool if you did. He is not worthy of your trust. He has proven himself to be a tale carrying little tattle and has scant respect for his betters. Which is why I’m asking this of you.” Loki’s hand touched Jack’s head. “I see he’s woken up. Will you consent to my wish, Brother?”

Jack yawned, blinked his eyes open and saw Thor sitting at the table.

“If you think it will do any good, I will.” Thor answered. “But only if you insure he won’t make a mess or change into that monster.” He grinned at Loki. “I must admit it does have a certain appeal.”

Jack knew that they were talking about him and it irritated him to be discussed as if he wasn’t there. He opened his mouth to protest and no words came out. The spell was intact. A frustrated growl was all he was capable of.

“What’s wrong with him?” Thor asked.

“I got tired of his noise and took away his speech.” Loki said. At Thor’s look of concern he added. “It’s only temporary. The little beast will be chattering away like a squirrel by morning.”

“If he can’t speak, how then should I know he consents? I may not like him brother, but I won’t force him to do anything against his will.” Thor said.

“He has ample ways to show what he wants or doesn’t without talking, don’t you Jack?”

Jack nodded. He wanted to know what Loki was planning and he decided his best bet was to agree and wait.

“So little beast, are you awake enough to take your punishment tonight?” Loki asked and stroked fingertips over Jack’s cheek.

Jack smiled and nodded his head. When Loki used that tone of soft cajoling it meant Jack was going to, well if not exactly enjoy, at least be thrilled by whatever his owner had dreamed up.

“Even if that punishment includes you being spanked like the disrespectful child your words this morning revealed you to be?”

Jack felt Loki’s threat like a hot touch down his chest, over his belly and straight to his groin. He gave a soft moan, and turned around to meet Loki’s sparkling eyes. He nodded enthusiastically, then lowered his head to nuzzle Loki’s thigh. 

“And even if said spanking is to be administered by my brother, whom you so wrongly slandered in your complaints to me?”

Jack’s head snapped up, and he sat back on his heels, his disbelief plain on his face. He glanced at Thor and turned back to Loki with a pleading look. Jack shook his head no. He touched his hand on Loki’s leg and whined.

“Oh.” Loki said. “I thought you were honest in your expressions of remorse.”

Jack looked from Thor to Loki, he bit his lower lip. He’d been given into another’s hand in the past to please someone. It wasn’t that Loki wanted to see him with someone else that bothered him. It was that, that someone was Thor. He didn’t like Thor anymore then Thor liked him, and he was afraid of the thunder god on a visceral level. Jack scooted back and kissed the top of Loki’s feet to show he was not in complete rebellion.

“Know Jack, I mean you to learn respect for my brother.” Loki said softly. “But for his sake I will give you this choice. Submit to my will and get over his lap, or return to your place by the stove, knowing I am disappointed in you. That alone will be your punishment.”

That hurt. Part of Jack was furious that Loki was playing on his need to please, but the other part gloried in the fact that his owner knew him so well. 

“Choose little demon.” Loki said, and leaned back in his chair.

Jack stood up and walked over to Thor. The big man leaned back with an expression of distaste. It was clear he was going along with this only because Loki asked him. That Thor didn’t like it was enough of an impetus to push Jack’s decision. Making Loki’s brother uncomfortable was its own reward. Jack smirked at Thor and lay across his broad thighs, his head hanging down and his toes touching the floor. Thor placed a massive hand on Jack’s back. That sensation, the restrained power that held him easily in place and the fact that he was so much bigger then Jack, made his heart beat quicker.

“Good beast.” Loki said, making Jack shiver.

“Loki.” Thor said in warning. Jack could feel the tensed thigh muscles on his belly.

“Jack, you will not cum and you will not shift your form, no matter the provocation. If it becomes too much you will slap the floor three times. Do you understand?”

Jack nodded.

“And Thor,” Loki added, “remember he’s not Aesir, he’s almost as breakable as your human friends, so treat him as you would a wayward child. In truth it's what he is, he’s hardy past half a century in age and his parent species lived into their thousands.”

Thor looked startled at Loki's words. “That would explain a lot.” He said and shifted Jack into a better position. 

Jack was unprepared for the slap that hit across his butt with stinging force. The yelp was more of surprise then pain. Thor did not wait for him to recover and a second slap hit as he was drawing breath.

“He was bred way too young.” Loki said. “It’s a miracle our child turned out as well as they did.”

The rhythm was quick and business like, as though Thor was striking a drum to keep time rather than smacking Jack’s ass. The heat was building across his rump and it sent twinges to his cock. He didn’t like Thor, he didn’t trust Thor and he’d much rather be over Loki’s lap. All that however, didn’t counter how good the heat felt on his butt or even worse, how Thor’s broad muscular thighs and big hands made Jack feel like a naughty child. That he’d never been spanked as a boy made no difference to the shameful delight he was taking in his own humiliation.

“Then why did you breed him?” Thor asked.

Thor could feel how Jack’s breathing had increased and the soft whimpers of pain were a sweet balm to his earlier annoyance. It was nice to take out his aggravation on its cause, instead of losing his temper at an innocent.

Loki frowned, leaned forward and poured the last of the pot into his cup. “He didn’t have his age stamped on his forehead.” He said. “You know as well as I, that sexual maturity and breeding age are vastly different in creatures that live as long as we do. Nor are we normally as fertile as the short lived species. If that were not true you’d have a thousand or more children scattered across four realms.” 

He wrinkled his nose at the bitter remnants of his tea, put the cup down and leaned toward Thor.

“That’s enough of a warm up, let us see your handiwork thus far.”

Jack gasped as his pajama pants where pulled off his rump, the cool air tingled on his hot cheeks. They were tugged further down trapping his half erect cock in the folds of fabric.

“Nice work, Brother.” Loki said, examining the hot pink of his thrall’s ass. “However there is no reason to be quite this gentle. I wished you to be careful not to break his bones, nor tear muscle. A solid bruising and some welted skin should give him cause to hold his tongue over the next few days. He needs to remember this. Don’t you Jack?”

“Uh Huh!” Jack managed through the spell, he whined in need and even Thor could not misjudge his eagerness.

“Punish him Thor.” Loki said. “He needs to learn you also have authority over him.”

“With pleasure.” Thor said. 

His hand smacked so hard over Jack’s bare ass it sounded like a rifle crack. Jack drew his breath to cry out at the searing pain and another slap of the broad hand hit the underside of his buttocks. The so far untouched skin bloomed with heat. Thor’s hand fell in a storm of blows, in no discernible pattern. Jack had to wrap his arms around the chair's legs to keep from trying to block the hits. The blood pounded in his head as he hung off Thor’s lap. His bottom throbbed with increasing pain. He bent his knees and tried to squirm away from the punishing spanking. 

Thor paused and Loki walked around them. He pulled up a chair, sat down and took Jack's legs on to his lap. Jack could hear the sounds of their kissing. He felt Loki’s hand, slender and cool, sliding over his sore ass. His pajamas were worked free of his cock and taken down to his knees. Loki’s hands tightened firm around his ankles.

“More Thor.” Loki said his voice low and breathless. “Break him.”

“It is not too much?” Thor asked, his hand poised over Jack’s red butt.

“Not close to enough. He hasn’t slapped the floor once, much less three times.”

“Ah.” Thor said.

He brought his hand down smartly on Jack’s pale thigh. The blow stung. Jack tried to bend his knees before he could be hit again, but Loki’s grip was unbreakable. He howled at the second smack and bucked and twisted as Thor’s hand turned his upper thighs to the same red of his ass. Just when he thought he couldn’t take anymore Thor switched back to his bottom. The punishing blows hurt. His butt cheeks went from red to crimson to a dark red violet. His ass quivered with every bruising, burning strike. Jack was sobbing from the pain, from his own raw need to be mastered like this. His cock had softened as he fell deeper, lost in everything but the feel of that strong hand stripping away the world in a steady rain of fire. He heard Loki’s voice from far away.

“Almost brother, don’t stop now. Hit him harder!”

Jack wailed. It was too much. The fiery pain, the sound as Thor beat his ass. Everything was too much and still it went on. He stopped fighting, stopped thinking and relaxed into the sensation. The smack of Thor’s hand was the beat of Jack’s heart. Slow, steady, powerful. His body was a small thing suspended between the inhale and exhale of the universe. Stars flared across his vision, coronas that reached and sang a song that was light and heat and a pain sweeter than any pleasure. 

A voice thrummed through him.

“There.” 

His master’s voice. Loki’s voice.

The spanking stopped and time slowed. Jack heard the soft crackle of the fire inside the stove, smelled the scent of wood polish from the floor and the leather of Thor's armor and the soft jasmine note of Loki's tea. He could feel how every slap on his flesh was layered in a penetrating heat, like the sun burning his skin scarlet on a hot summer's day. He remembered he had to breathe.

Jack lay limp over Thor’s lap. Thor’s breathing was deep and rough. Jack could feel his abdomen press against his side with each breath. Loki let go of his ankles and loosed the spell on his tongue at the same time. Jack was deeply happy. He felt almost weightless with relief. He was safe and loved and wanted to return the love. He turned on his side and curled around Thor’s waist, hugging him with his whole body. 

“Thank you.” Jack said. 

Thor’s sudden tension was OK. 

His alarmed “Loki!” was OK.

Everything was beautiful. Jack grinned.

Loki gathered Jack off his brother’s lap. Pulled up his pants and led him to the sheepskin. He handed Jack a cup off the stove. It was filled with warm sweetened milk and Jack drank it greedily, suddenly thirsty. Loki kept an arm around him while he drank. Jack staggered as the room swayed to the sound of the wind through the forest. 

“What is wrong with him, now?” Thor asked. “He acts as if he is drunk.”

“Surely you’ve seen the effect before.” Loki said. “It is the same as that which causes battle rage in your berserkers.”

He took the empty mug from Jack’s unresisting hand and lowered him to the sheepskin. Loki sat beside Jack, took his head in his lap and stroked his hair. 

“My berserkers didn’t hug people and grin like idiots.” Thor answered.

“For shame, Brother,” Loki said. “They most certainly did. Many a time I’ve seen your warriors hugging, laughing and slapping each other on the back after a battle.”

“That’s after. And having one’s ass beat can hardly amount to a battle.” Thor said. He handed Loki a blanket at his gesture and watched as he wrapped the drowsy demon in it.

“The battle is in his mind Thor. Where many of us have to fight our worst enemies. The spanking, like the beating I gave him, releases the tension caused when one cannot physically grasp the problems.” Loki looked up at Thor. “What you are able to release in a hard bout of sparring, he can only let go when he is under another’s hand.” 

Jack yawned and half shut his eyes, dimming the light. Their conversation, though interesting, was drifting away from him.

“Is that how it is with you?” Thor asked. 

He moved over to stand beside Loki and dropped his hand to his brother’s head.

“Sparring helps.” Loki answered. “However I’m not adverse to a small amount of rough treatment. As long as it’s with someone I trust.”

The voices were soft and a gentle warmth filled Jack. 

“I think he’s asleep now.” Loki said.

Jack wanted to say “No, I’m not.” But it was too much trouble. He didn’t move as Loki slipped a pillow under his head and stood up as Thor clasped his hand. 

“That was not entirely unpleasant.” Thor said as he pulled Loki into his muscular arms. “Should you be in need of the same service for yourself, I could bring myself to provide it."

Loki laughed, his lips were soft on Thor’s throat. He rocked his hips against his brother. 

“Not unpleasant?” Loki said “Your cock tells a different story. It says, I liked that very much, when can we do it again?”

Thor chuckled. “You tease me enough and it will be right now, little brother.” He nuzzled the top of Loki's head and breathed in the scent of his hair.

“Thank you for the kind offer, but I usually prefer things, more… sophisticated.” Loki said, kissing up Thor's throat to his ear, which he worried between his teeth.

“And what sophisticated thing would you like?” Thor asked, tightening his grip on the back of Loki's neck. The teeth were beginning to be painful.

“A very unsophisticated, your cock up my ass and fucking me as hard as you can, my dear, big brother.” Loki countered, and licked his tongue hot into Thor's ear.

Thor’s answer was a low growl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, what place to stop. But I want to give the brothers my full attention. Comments make me write.


	17. They ask no quarter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorki! What you have been waiting for. Porn.

Loki needed no magic to shed his clothing, Thor ripped his shirt off before he could call his seidr to his hand. Loki returned the favor and left nail marks down the front of Thor’s chest inciting his brother to slam his ass against the table. Loki chuckled. His hand shot out like a striking snake, grasped the back of Thor’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss that was more teeth then lips. Thor’s hands snapped the lacings and Loki’s pants were tugged off his lean hips. He pulled away from his younger brother’s greedy mouth long enough to shrug off the remains of his shirt and undo his own pants, batting away Loki’s reaching fingers from his hard cock. 

“No touching!” Thor said with a grin. 

His broad back muscles rippled as he grasped his brother’s ass and hoisted him onto the table. Loki took the opportunity to wind his arms around Thor’s neck and bite his ear. Thor squeezed his brother’s butt cheeks hard enough to win a groan from Loki, who released his ear, his pink tongue darting out to lick up a tiny drop of blood before it touched the bronzed skin. Thor placed his hand on Loki’s bare chest and shoved him down onto the table. 

Loki’s lithe body gleamed pale in the low lamplight, his mischievous eyes glittered and his wicked smile sent a thrill through Thor. Loki raised his hands and ran them through his ebony locks spreading his hair out in a dark aura as he stretched, long arms extended, his back arcing and his tapered fingers curling into fists. Thor looked down on his brother, tracing his fingers over his face, brushing the sharp angle of his cheekbones, the softness of his thin lips, and the edge of his narrow jaw. His hands stroked down the column of Loki’s neck and over the hollow of his collar bone, to rest over his chest. Loki was beautiful, the fire in his emerald eyes, the soft flutter of his pulse, the way his lips were parted, inviting kisses. Thor paused to take in the spectacle of his brother laid out for him. Thor's face was soft and his eyes gentle, adoration in his expression.

“Loki.” he said.   
A blessing, a prayer or an endearment, perhaps all three. 

Loki’s response was to laugh and bare his teeth.   
“Get on with it!” 

Thor shifted his hands to Loki’s wrists and leaned forward, pinning his brother down. His mouth found one of Loki’s nipples and he sucked the bit of flesh, Loki’s soft cries encouraged him. He teased his brother, alternating passionate kisses with nips and licks to his throat and nipples, till Loki was cursing him. Loki’s thighs clasped Thor’s hips and his heels kicked his rump in an effort to get Thor to stop toying with him. He arched his hips in an attempt to rub his cock on Thor’s belly. His brother pulled his wrists together until he could grasp them in one hand and moved the other meaty paw to Loki’s thigh and held him still. Loki snarled and cursed louder, twisting and moaning. His nipples and lips were swollen and tender and his throat was marked with reddening bruises from Thor’s attentions.

“Patience, brother.” Thor chuckled.

Loki’s blasphemous reply roused Jack from his endorphin induced haze. He raised his head and focused on the pair. Lust was pouring off the brothers in a cascade of power and heat to his incubus nature. Without thinking, he reached out and tasted the energy. It crashed through him like a storm driven wave, overpowering his senses. He shuddered and ripped his mind free. Panting with a desire newly born, he coiled that seething remnant into the heart of his own magic where it glowed like a forge. He crouched low on the sheepskin and watched the gods, still and silent lest he draw unwanted attention. 

Thor slid down Loki’s body kissing softly, chest and ribs and belly, pausing to dip his tongue into Loki’s navel. Loki’s angered response was to rip his wrists free, bend forward and dig his nails into his brother’s scalp. Thor ignored the pain and breathed hot over Loki’s straining cock.  
“Ahh!” Loki said and stopped fighting, falling back on the table, his hands slack on Thor’s head.

Thor pressed his tongue to the underside of the swollen shaft and licked up and over the silken head. Then his lips closed warm and wet and firm over the crown and he sucked the length of Loki’s cock into his mouth.

Loki’s hips were firmly held and he had to take what his brother gave him. And what Thor gave was nothing short of worship. His soft full lips slid up and down the length in loving caress, his tongue lapped and stroked over the glistening head, tasting the salt bitter drops of precum. His warm mouth suckled as though he were starving. When he swallowed his brother’s cock, his throat grasp tight in heated spasms. Loki’s curses became inarticulate moans. His hips tensed as he tried and tried to rut into the soft sucking warmth, tried to hurry the motion with tightening fingers in Thor’s hair. He might as well have tried to move a mountain. Thor’s grip on his hips was iron and the muscles of his neck and back resisted Loki’s efforts easily. Thor would bring him off at his own pace and not to Loki’s frantic need. 

Loki half sobbed at the pure physical power Thor had over him. In one way it was a reminder of their ordeal, Loki’s body still recovering from his near death and the months of deprivation and Thor’s built ever stronger as he strived for revenge. In another it was a balm to know that Thor was so powerful, able to best him yet, keep his dark nature in control while he was still unable to do so himself. But mostly it was knowing that all this strength was wielded for love of him, had been born out of love and loss of him, a testament in muscle and bone to Thor’s devotion. Even though he knew he couldn't win, Loki couldn’t help fighting against his brother, fighting for control even as he melted into the heated embrace. 

Thor could feel his brother’s thighs trembling against his hips, the panting cries as he struggled against the slowly building pleasure. He eased his sucking, gentled the stroke of his tongue, holding Loki back, stretching out the seconds into minutes. Sweat beaded the pale skin, Loki’s heart was hammering, his eyes were an abyss of black pupil and his breathing was harsh and uneven. Thor increased the rhythm of his bobbing head, sucked harder as his mouth worked Loki’s twitching cock, and his brother howled. Shuddering, riding the overstimulation far too long Loki gasped and came in shivering pulses. Cum spilled hot and sharp in Thor’s mouth and he slurped each pulse, swallowing Loki’s seed, savoring the taste of his brother’s ecstasy. Loki’s hips jerked against Thor’s grip as the last of the spasms throbbed through him. His thighs fell open, his heels dragging across Thor’s waist, his hands slipped from Thor’s head and he lay breathless, his cock softening in his brother’s gentle mouth.

Thor raised his head and Loki’s cock slithered from his lips to lay wet and flaccid on his belly. He leaned over his brother, his own thick shaft nudging Loki’s, and brought his mouth to Loki’s panting lips. Loki opened under him and took the gift of his own spend, as Thor pushed it into his mouth with a thrusting tongue. Loki sucked his tongue and licked into Thor’s mouth sharing the sharp buzzing taste. 

Breaking the kiss Thor lifted Loki’s quivering thighs, grasped his knees and pulled them to his shoulders.

“Thor, unleash your strength. I want to feel it.” Loki said. “Fuck me Brother.” 

Thor shuddered at the emphasis Loki put into the word brother, which made this so taboo. Not in blood but in shared lives, shared memories, a hundred thousand grappling fights and laughing games and secrets whispered in the dark. The same mother and the same father and the same home for a millennium that no accident of birth could ever erase. Thor loved him. Loved him beyond reason and tradition and all condemnation. Death had tried to snatch his brother from his grasp and in a miracle he could not question, Loki had been returned to him. Thor was too worn, too awed, and too grateful to hold back his love. Had Loki not returned its depth, had not shared his forbidden desire, they would have still survived, nothing could break their bond. He had given his weakness to Loki as a gift, fully expecting his brother to use it as a scourge. Instead Loki had welcomed his attentions, and had returned his desire with a fierce passion that bordered on madness.

Thor shuddered as he saw that same fury, now burning in his brother’s eyes. He grasped his aching cock and pressed it between into the cleft of Loki’s ass. The wide head brushed into a cool wet slick that told him Loki had used his seidr to ease Thor’s path. He rocked forward feeling that tight ring open, almost pulling him into Loki’s body. He sheathed his cock in the heated passage in one smooth thrust. Loki hissed under him and he knew he’d hurt his brother, but Loki’s hands were on his waist pulling him in and his nails were buried in his skin and Thor knew he loved every hurt. He snapped his hips out and Loki’s smothered yip was followed by a sharply exhaled “Yes!”

Thor drove in again, rough and fast and his balls slapped Loki’s tailbone. Loki cried out at the burning pain and kicked his heels into Thor’s shoulder blades urging him on. Thor responded by pulling back and driving in as hard as he could, bending his brother double. He grabbed Loki’s hips and dragged him back till his ass was half off the table. He pounded into Loki’s body with bruising strength, and Loki screamed and cursed him to go harder. Thor was maddened by Loki’s raw need for him, and fucked his brother reckless and wild. He had sufficient discipline to hold back his full strength, no matter how Loki demanded. His brother wasn’t strong enough and they both knew it, but it didn’t keep Loki from begging to be fucked through the table. 

Thor gave him every bit he could take, his hips smacking into Loki’s rump and his cock filled his ass with brutal strokes. The pressure built in his groin, an aching need and Thor chased it with each powerful thrust. His heavy balls pulled up and the pulse started low , surging up the pistoning length to spurt in hot gouts into Loki’s clenching asshole. Thor ground in as he came, filling Loki’s butt. Loki’s anus spasmed, milking his brother’s fat cock as Thor growled and pumped his hips to wring every last shivering pleasure from their coupling. He finally collapsed over Loki, letting the long legs slide from his shoulders as Loki’s hands released their grip on his scratched and bleeding waist. He rested his head on Loki’s heaving chest and felt his brother’s fingers thread through his hair. 

“Brute!” Loki panted. “Ogre. You’ve ruined me.”

“Mmm hmm.” Thor answered.

Loki shoved at Thor’s hip and Thor obliged by pulling back enough to allow his softening cock to fall free. Loki winced. Thor felt the slithering coolness of Loki magic as it wrapped around his cock and flowed over his body taking away the spend and sweat as it dissipated. It was a convenience, and a sign that Loki was once again mastering his seidr.

“You’re a monster brother.” Loki groused. “Or at least your cock is. Too big by far.” He sat up and shoved Thor off.

“Hah!” Said Thor, still slightly out of breath and leaning his hip on the edge of the table. “If you didn’t want it you wouldn’t beg so hard.”

“I never beg.” Loki frowned at the idea. “I demand and you, dear brother obey. As it should be.” 

“A fine way to talk to your king.” Thor chuckled.

Loki pushed off the table. He ran is hands through his hair and glanced over at the stove where Jack lay wide eyed and trembling with arousal. He grinned and shook his head no. He turned back to Thor, placed his hands on his broad chest and bent his head in until he was nose to nose with him.

“You are only my king outside of my home. Here you are simply my oaf of a brother who will do as he is told or suffer the consequences.” Loki said and kissed Thor to punctuate his threat.

“What consequences?” Thor asked, leading Loki to the bed and pulling back the covers.

“I’m working on them.” Loki said, climbing into bed and pulling Thor down beside him. “It takes time to prepare penalties adequate for incurring my wrath. Be assured that you will be the first to know.” 

Loki turned on his side and Thor slid his arm around his brother’s waist. He nuzzled the raven hair.

“That is what I’m afraid of, brother.” Thor said with more truth in his words then he liked.

 

Loki’s soft chuckle was a bit too sinister in the sudden dark, the light doused with a touch of his magic. Loki smiled. He loved Thor dearly but there was no reason to allow his brother to grow complacent.   
His thrall’s frustrated sigh as the demon turned on his sheepskin, made Loki want to laugh. It was fun to tease the little beast and a welcome distraction from his own frustration with his slowly healing body and mind. For now he was mostly content. A rare thing and one that he knew would not last. 

Loki shut his eyes and meditated, relaxing the last traces of tension from his body. He fell asleep to the sound of Thor’s soft snoring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you just need a little porn. Hope you liked this chapter.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An attempt at peacemaking goes awry. Loki takes his pet for a walk, a long walk. A little romance and nice scenery.

Jack woke to the low murmur of voices. He caught “Japan” and “conference” in Thor’s deep whisper and Loki’s sleep blurred, “Do not turn it into an international incident.” Thor’s deep chuckle was followed by Loki’s soft purring “Mmmm.” as Thor kissed him. Thor climbed out of bed and walked into the bathroom. 

Jack struggled out of the loaned shirt. It was uncomfortably rucked up around his armpits and neck as he’d shifted to demi-demon in his sleep. He slipped his tail into the hole in the back of the pajamas and pulled them up, wincing at the tenderness of his skin. The shower came on in as he got up and stretched. The only illumination was from the stove, but it was enough for Jack to see that Loki had fallen back to sleep. It was somewhere around three in the morning, Jack thought, as he filled the coffee pot and put another log in the stove. 

He saw how Thor had treated Loki, seen the gentleness, the love he carried for his brother. It didn’t exactly kill the jealousy Jack felt, but it made him more charitable towards the thunder god. He had to admit he’d enjoyed being over Thor’s lap and wouldn’t mind repeating the event. Maybe they could work things out. Making breakfast for Thor was his way of extending the olive branch. He took down a skillet and placed it next to the pot. He worked quietly in the dim light, fixing half a dozen eggs, a generous helping of ham and several slices of fried bread. He was taking the warmed plate to the table when Thor walked out of the bathroom toweling his hair. Jack lit the lamp, turning it down to a soft glow while Thor dressed.

Thor looked askance at Jack as he buckled on his belt.

“I figured you could use a hot meal before you left for your conference in Japan.” Jack said, keeping his voice quiet for his owner’s sake.

“You were snooping?” Thor whispered back.

“Small room. I couldn’t help overhearing some of it.” Jack answered irritated. He poured out a mug of coffee and turned to go back to his bed on the floor.

“How do I know you haven’t poisoned it?” Thor said as he moved toward the table. 

The words pierced Jack to the heart, and rage flared red hot through his veins. Maybe it was because Jack had never used anything but words, maybe it was the low light or the fact that he’d never seen Jack as anything more than his brother's pet, but Thor was unprepared when Jack whirled around, jumped up and delivered a hard snap punch right to his nose. His head jerked back from the impact but he caught the following right hand, twisted it in one smooth movement behind Jack’s back and pinned the demon against his chest. The aborted fight had taken all of a second and in almost total silence.

“Hush!” Whispered Thor in Jack's ear as he held the trembling demon in a crushing embrace. “Stop this nonsense and I’ll let you go.”

“Nonsense!” Jack hissed back at him and tried to squirm free. “I’ll kick your ass for that insult.”

“Insult?” Thor asked puzzled. He tightened his hold and Jack stopped struggling and concentrated on trying to breathe through the constriction.

“You think I’d stoop to poison? That I’d stab you in the back?” Jack shot back. “That I have no honor at all?”

“Be quiet or you’ll wake up Loki.” Thor said. “He gets little enough sleep as it is.”

He gave Jack a final shake and released him. Jack glared at Thor. But he didn’t say another word and returned to the sheepskin, lay down and curled up facing away from the thunder god. He was shaking with repressed emotion.

Thor sighed and sat down to the meal. He’d meant the comment as a joke, not thinking that Jack would take it as insult. The demon was a contradiction. It was hard for Thor to consider that a man who had a few hours earlier groveled at his brother’s feet, and had allowed Thor to treat him as a bad mannered child, had any concept of honor. He rubbed his nose. It stung slightly, but the beast had little chance of actually doing him any real harm. Thor grinned wryly, that Jack had the courage to actually punch him, raised him in Thor’s opinion. He thought back to the fight in the park. Jack had shone courage there also. Thor wasn’t one of those fools who thought lack of fear meant bravery. At least he wasn’t anymore. Jack had been clearly terrified, but had stood his ground. He wondered how Loki had known that he would.

Thor finished eating, placed the dishes in the sink and walked over to where Jack was feigning sleep. 

“I thank you for the meal, and apologize for the insult. It was a poor attempt at a joke.”

Thor waited a moment for an answer that didn’t come. He turned to give his sleeping brother a parting brush of lips on his pale forehead. The light was doused and the door closed quietly. A sudden flash of lightning and the muted rumble of thunder rolled across the night as Thor evoked the bifrost power and departed into the east.

Jack took a few ragged breaths trying to get control over his anger? Sorrow? He didn’t really know. There was a rustle of blankets and Loki spoke in the darkness.

“Come here little fool, I’m cold.”

Jack got up and climbed in beside Loki, who opened his arms. Jack lay his head on the taller man’s chest, put and arm around his lean waist and a leg across his thighs. One wing he spread over them and the other he folded be hind his back. Loki’s skin was cool on his bare chest. His owner pulled the blankets up and patted Jack on the shoulder. The kindness broke Jack’s composure and he shook in conflicting emotions.

“I tried to be nice and he.. I hate him! I hate him!” Jack said.

“Shut up Jack.” Loki said and kissed his forehead. “No more drama tonight.”

Jack took a deep breath, let it out, and the mess of tangled feelings receded. He closed his eyes and concentrated instead on the smooth touch of Loki’s skin on his cheek, his scent of ice and cedar and the steady beat of his heart. The vibration anchored Jack and he relaxed and drifted into sleep. 

******

It was the chill of the cabin that woke Jack. Loki was wrapped in the blankets and Jack’s back was exposed to the cold. He contemplated the likelihood of stealing a blanket back, noted the growing light of morning and got out of bed.

He added wood to the stove stirring up the embers, refilled and set the kettle on the stove in what had become a part of his morning routine. By the time Loki yawned and crawled out of his nest of blankets Jack was showered, dressed and putting breakfast on the table. He helped Loki into his robe, which he’d warmed by the stove, and that got him an approving nod. He poured the tea, picked up his plate and mug and sat at Loki’s feet to eat his meal. 

“Little demon,” Loki said when Jack was washing up after they’d finished. “Have you ever been to Cairo?”

“No, I haven’t.” Jack said, putting the dishes back on their shelves. “I never had the money to travel much.”

“I find I tire of this New Asgard and would explore warmer clines. With Thor gone, I see no reason to stay.”

“But, I thought you ruled here in his absence.”

Loki laughed. "I may be in the line of succession, but having usurped the throne once, it is doubtful I shall be allowed to take up the mantle of king. Not that I wish to. Thor may call this New Asgard but the meanest village in the golden realm was more glorious than this hovel."

A message to Corbin, a shower and change of clothes for Loki and a change of form for Jack and they were ready to go. The little luggage they needed Loki tucked away in one of his magic pockets. 

“Can you teach me how to do that?” Jack asked, as they walked through the woods. 

“No.”

“Why not?” Jack frowned.

“For the same reason I cannot teach you how to walk between worlds or turn yourself into a wolf.” You don’t have the ability.”

The cedar woods had changed to deciduous forest as they walked.

“But I can do magic.” Jack protested. “I even learned to make fire with magic. And I can do the thing where I make distances shorter by skipping the space between them. Isn’t that like world walking?”

The trees were getting shorter and the forest more open. It was warm enough now to not need the coats and they removed them and Loki tucked them away with the rest of their clothing.

“Your magic, while it has the capacity to be quite powerful, is strictly limited in its scope. You possess the potential for ice magic as good as any Jotun warrior, and your ability to manipulate winter weather will only grow as you age. Your ability to convert and channel various types of energy is remarkable. Your shielding is good. Your glamor is passable, as is your healing. However the majority of your magics are personal. Your space skipping as you call it, almost killed you by draining your magic and you had to make several ‘skips’ in order to merely cut a mile off the distance. It is something which, if you insist on attempting, will end up killing you. As for fire, how long did it take you to produce a flame?”

“A few months.”

“Corbin mastered it in a morning.”

“I didn’t have a teacher.” Jack said. “If you’d teach me I’d get better.”

“I will teach you, in fact I am teaching you right now. Can you see how I am taking us through the world?”

“Jack shook his head, I can see you are using magic, but not what you are doing with it.”

“Can you sense the thin spaces, the gaps in the world?”

“No, it just looks like we are walking and the forest is changing as we go.”

“That is why I can’t teach you. If you cannot perceive the gaps, then you cannot manipulate them, nor make connections between them.”

The forest had changed to rows of gnarled trees and Loki recognized that they were in an orchard of olive trees.

Jack frowned and looked away, not wanting to believe Loki’s words.

“I can teach you a few spells to add to your repertoire, help you refine those that you already have. You should know as a channel, you are very valuable to me. There are spells that would otherwise call for days or even weeks of building up reserves to cast, that I could complete with little preparation, because of your ability to provide me with power.”

That was mollifying, and Jack’s heart lightened. He enjoyed the scenery as they descended a hill into a sunny seaside town. It was an artist’s colony, and painters were set up on the streets, capturing the town and its inhabitants in oils or watercolors. There were several galleries and churches to explore. Loki was amused by Jack’s enthusiasm as he expounded on light and brushwork and chiaroscuro. He nearly swooned when he found the local museum had a painting by Artemisia Gentileschi on loan.

They lunched in an open air café and after, took a walk to the waterfront and watched the fishing boats bringing in their catch. Jack loved the warm sunshine on his face and the cool wind bringing the smell of the sea. The waves of the small bay sparkled against the golden green of the low hills. 

“Is it not strange, how quickly their lives return to routine, no matter the depth of the tragedy?” Loki said.

Jack glanced at Loki hearing a wistfulness in his voice.

“Standing here one would hardly think a world died, a people slaughtered and the entire structure of the nine realms was torn apart.”

“Nor half their population gone and then returned.” Jack said. “But people have to eat, and you can’t mourn forever.”

“Can you not?” 

Loki turned and looked back out to sea. They stood in silence, until a smoke belching delivery truck broke the mood. 

Loki took Jack’s hand and they hiked down the rugged coastline. Jack was happy to be walking hand and hand with his god, Loki’s cool palm on his and their fingers interlaced. The scrubby hills turned to yellow grasslands and then to red desert sands, and then to an alley filled with boxes of empty bottles. Jack felt the slither of Loki’s magic over his skin and was surprised to see his pale hands turn a warm brown. He glanced at Loki and his features though still recognizable had taken on an Egyptian cast, with deep brown eyes and the same dark skin. 

“It will simplify our visit if we fit in.” Loki said and led them into the cacophony of a Cairo afternoon. 

With Loki standing behind him clothed in an expensive linen suit and his aristocratic haughtiness, Jack had no trouble flagging down a taxi. Loki gave their destination and to Jack’s surprise the cabbie answered in a different tongue. They carried on a conversation of which Jack only understood one side, all the way to the Hotel. Jack was quiet and wondered what language Loki was actually speaking. Loki had done the same thing while ordering their lunch. He, speaking English, and the waitress answering in rapid Italian. Jack shut his eyes and listened closely to Loki’s voice and the words were not English. He had to focus to hear the sounds, even as he heard the meaning in his head. Jack wondered if Loki even spoke English or if it was his magic that allowed him to communicate.

Jack paid the driver with the handful of bills Loki passed him. Apparently he was to play the part of a silent employee. When they stepped inside the hotel Jack understood what kind of an employee. The impassive face reflected in the lobby mirrors was bisected by a scar that twisted his lip into a permanent snarl. His nose was even more crooked, and his eyes were a dull cold black under heavy brows. Loki had added the appearance of muscle to Jack’s thin frame and his jacket bulged over a hidden gun. Jack was impressed at the illusion, he actually looked menacing. He looked away from the mirrors and quickened his steps to keep up with Loki. A quick exchange with the desk clerk, an affronted look, an apologetic manager and they were checked into a luxurious suite. 

Jack gawked at the bustling city, the maze of streets were chocked with traffic, the minarets of ancient mosques shared the skyline with modern skyscrapers and the broad waters of the Nile gleamed in the sun. Jack had never done much traveling, he’d lived a hand to mouth existence for most of his life. Before Sakaar, he’d never traveled out of the US. Similar to the trip from Sakaar back to earth, his and Corbin’s trip from San Francisco to Norway had taken place in airports due to the shortage of funds. Barring the difference in architecture and the appearance of the locals, not much different than spaceports. This was the first time travel wasn’t a matter of huddling on uncomfortable seating with his belongings around his feet, trying to grab a few hours’ sleep before his next connection. Jack turned to grin at Loki. 

“Can we go to the National Museum, and the pyramids and Tutankhamun’s tomb and Luxor and maybe a trip to Alexandria? “ Jack said, bouncing on his heels.

Loki laughed. “That illusion won’t fool anyone if you insist on acting like a novice tourist.” 

The illusions dissipated at Loki’s words.

“I _am_ a novice tourist,” Jack said. “And this is human history. Five thousand years of history all in one place, can you imagine it?”

“Actually I can. But this isn’t your history Jack, its humanity’s history.”

“Oh yeah.” Jack said in a subdued voice. Despite spending fourteen years on Sakaar, despite the awakening fragments of ancestral memory or the differences of his physical form, Jack still thought of himself as human. Fifty years of habit and memory outweighed fourteen of knowledge.

“I forget sometimes.” Jack said. “Do you ever forget that you’re not really…?”

Jack stopped and bit his lip at the furrow in Loki’s brow and the tenseness at the corners of his mouth. After a moment Loki’s expression relaxed with a sigh.

“You would think that I could never forget that I’m a monster, the rejected runt of a race of barbaric creatures.” Loki raised his hand, stopping Jack’s automatic rebuttal. 

“But yes I do. Sometimes for days at a time I indulge myself in the fantasy that I have a place in the ranks of the Aesir. As you may have heard, I’m quite good at lying.” Loki finished, with a false brightness that made Jack’s shoulders tighten.

Jack wanted to argue the point but he didn’t want to completely fuck up the mood his stupid question had tarnished. He’d pursue his curiosity at a later time. 

“Have you ever been to Cairo before?” Jack asked.

“Several years ago, it has changed somewhat since then.” Loki stripped out of his suit, had Jack hang it up and stretched out on one of the beds in his underwear. He indicated Jack to do the same and patted the space beside him. 

“We will start our tour this evening. I, however shall rest and save the tale of my previous visit until then. Traveling as we did will take its toll even from one such as I.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A fairly quiet day for them, with just a little conflict in the morning. Jack was angry and hurt, because Thor is starting to rise in his esteem and he want's his approval.  
> Loki needed a day out and it won't hurt Jack to see some of the world. Things pick up next chapter.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little afternoon porn, some site seeing, and an unexpected encounter. A visit from a frenemy. Jack gets a new perspective.

Jack snuggled down beside Loki. He loved this casual bed sharing, loved even the slightest of caresses his god gave him. He touched Loki’s hand and offered up the power he’d garnered from last night. Loki closed his hands over Jack and drew from his reserve. Jack almost purred in happiness. That he could offer Loki this recharge and be useful to him, was hardwired into his pleasure centers. Add in that the flowing of energy from him to Loki itself felt good in its own way, and that the magical power still carried the sexual charge from its inception, and it was little wonder his body responded. Jack’s cock stiffened against Loki’s hip.

“You are such a randy little beast.” Loki said. “But not without a certain appeal.”

To his surprise Loki lifted Jack’s chin and kissed him slow and deep. Jack’s lips parted under Loki’s. He moaned when Loki’s tongue flickered in. He felt Loki’s seidr wash over his skin and he shivered as it bypassed his shape change and locked him in human form. 

“Is this what you want little demon?” Loki asked teasing. He slid off his undershorts and Jack’s answer was to scramble down to nuzzle his groin. Loki chuckled at his eagerness. 

“Show me how you worship your god.” Loki said.

Jack licked up the underside of Loki’s hardening cock. He ran his tongue up and down the sides of the warm shaft, kissing the head, sucking softly. He dropped down to lap and gently suck Loki’s balls. His eyes were half closed and he made low murmurs of pleasure. He rubbed his cheek against the length of Loki’s cock before taking it in between his soft wet lips.

“Good beast.” Loki moaned and Jack shivered at the praise. 

Loki twitched his hips and Jack shuddered in response, whining around Loki’s shaft. He opened his eyes and met Loki’s with a pleading look. When his god's hands clasped his head and the long fingers threaded through his hair, Jack leaned into the touch. Loki was holding him, guiding him, and Jack felt a deep happiness. This was his place, pleasing his owner. His heart beat faster as Loki began to thrust into his mouth. “Use me!” he cried in his mind. He cupped Loki’s hips and angled his neck to give his god easy access to his throat. He loved the tightness, the half cough as it plunged in. Jack was trembling, his gaze fixed on Loki’s face. The green eyes were bright, the thin lips parted and the warm pink flush on Loki’s cheeks told of his pleasure. The intense feeling of being owned, being good, made him relax, his throat opened and he took his god’s cock all the way down till his nose was buried in the soft black curls. He focused on the warm thickness of Loki’s cock in his mouth, stroking down his throat, almost gagging him, as Loki held him against his groin. He was choking, his eyes fluttering shut as a dark roaring sounded in his ears.

Loki pulled his cock from Jacks throat, let him catch his breath with quick ragged gasps. Then he tightened his grip in Jack’s hair and dragged him onto his back so his head hung off the bed. 

“Yes! Oh please yes!” Jack cried out. “Fuck my throat. Hard! Please!”

Loki pushed Jack’s boxers down and freed his leaking cock. He gave it a hard squeeze and Jack bucked up into his hand. 

“Greedy demon!” Loki growled and slid off the bed to line his cock up with Jack’s open mouth. Jack’s low rumbling moan of pleasure was constricted in his throat as Loki shoved in full depth. Jack thought it could get no better, the silken feel of Loki’s shaft on his tongue, the blunt head filling his throat, his owner’s scrotum pressed against his nose, breathing in the scent of his arousal. He pulled back again and Jack sucked on the head of Loki’s cock as if he were starving. Then Loki’s weight was on his chest, one hand grabbed Jack’s butt and the other the base of his shaft, and the warm, slick swipe of his tongue over the head of his cock told Jack he was wrong. He jerked his hips up and Loki chuckled.

“One would think you liked this.” He licked again and the wet touch made Jack howl, the sound muffled as Loki thrust into his throat and ground his hips against Jack’s face. “Hold back, little beast, I want to see how long you can keep from coming.”

Loki took Jack’s cock into the heat of his mouth and Jack shivered, overcome with sensation. The soft sucking warmth, Loki’s tongue licking up the underside of his shaft and pressing there, right under the head, his nails digging hot points of pain into one ass cheek, overlaying the dull throb of healing bruises. Loki’s warm cock plunging into his mouth, his throat in a slow hard thrust. Holding that salt musky thickness there while he chocked and shuddered and almost blacked out again. Loki rocked his hips back to allow a sputtering panting breath and then rammed his cock deep with the next lunge. 

It was utter submission to give up his body, his strength, his very air to please his god and Jack was lost in it. He had no ability to hold back no chance of controlling anything and he writhed and rutted and wrapped his arms around Loki’s waist pulling him as close as he could. Loki responded by fucking his mouth harder, faster and Jack could barely breathe, skirting the edge of darkness. His lips and mouth and throat ached and his cock throbbed. It was too much, every touch and thrust and warm lap overpowered him. Jack’s hips bucked in arrhythmic spasms, the pulsing heat crescendoed, the pressure broke and he came, thick white seed flooding into Loki’s wet sucking mouth. Jack gagged as he fought for air, Loki’s cock choking him mercilessly, his hand and mouth stripping the shuddering throbs of pleasure from his prick as he spurted again and again.

Loki ground in one last time. His cock jerked in Jack’s mouth and his seed splashed in bitter streams down Jacks throat. He swallowed and sucked it down, greedy as he'd been named. His god pulled away and swayed on his feet. Jack only stared at him, too far gone to respond, when Loki put a hand on his throat and milked the last of his spend into Jack’s panting mouth. The grip on his throat tightened and Jack held Loki’s seed in his mouth, the taste sharp and buzzing on his tongue. Loki bent and put his lips on Jack’s and Jack felt the slickness of his own seed and Loki’s tongue in his mouth. 

The kiss was soft and deep and Loki lapped the mixture of their cum together. He finally pulled away and sat down on the bed. Jack swallowed the remnants of semen and licked his lips. They were sore and swollen.

“Thine?”

“Mine.” Loki answered and shoved him over onto his side. 

He smacked Jack’s bruised butt and Jack yipped. Loki lay down and curled around Jack.

“Don’t bother me anymore or I’ll be forced to discipline you in a manner you won’t like.”

Jack stretched his stiff neck and snuggled into Loki’s embrace.

“I’m not sure such a thing is possible.” He said. 

Loki’s soft chuckle was the only reply.

******

It was nightfall when Jack was woken by touch of Loki’s feet in the small of his back. He thrust his hands out, brought his knees up, and twisted as he was kicked out of bed to land on all fours. He looked at Loki and laughed, this had become a game. If Jack woke up first, he performed his duties as a good servant should. If Loki woke up first Jack was reminded of his place by being shoved rudely out of bed.

Except this evening, Jack pounced back on the bed and on top of Loki. Trapping his hands under the covers, he managed to kiss his god, before being literally tossed across the room. Jack tucked and rolled and still ended up slamming into a wall. But the impact was only jarring, as Loki had meant it to be. 

“You are presumptuous.” Loki said flipping his hair back and sitting up. 

“I’m glad to see you are well. The snoring was so loud I assumed a bear had eaten you and was resting in your place. I didn’t dare move lest it eat me also. That was merely me expressing my relief that I was wrong and won’t have to start the tedious process of looking for new employment anytime soon.”

“I do not snore, and you are a poor liar with a ludicrous sense of humor. Also shockingly lazy, sleeping when you should be assuring there is a meal ready when I awaken and that my suit is pressed for the evening”

“You could always whip me for it.” Jack suggested. 

“Again, I wish to correct such behavior, not encourage it.”

“Do you actually want me to order room service or are you just screwing with me?” 

He ignored the suit request, knowing Loki would take his hide off with a dull spoon if he came close to his clothing with a hot iron.

“Get dressed little beast, you are making me wait.”

Which really wasn’t fair, as Jack was already pulling his clothes back on and unlike Loki, could not clothe himself with a finger twitch. Loki gave him a swat on his bruised bottom and Jack yipped and smiled at what he knew was a sign of approval. However he did hurry and was ready by the time Loki stepped out of the bathroom. Loki recast their disguises and they went out.

Jack was entranced by the pyramid show, which was overly theatrical in Loki’s opinion, though still entertaining. Loki shadow walked them to Luxor to view the Karnak and Luxor temples. That they were closed for the night didn't deter Loki and he cloaked their entrance from man and machine alike. Jack was in ecstasy, circling the pillars looking at the statues and admiring the pictograms while Loki translated them. 

Loki smiled at the demon’s enthusiasm. It was good to get away from new Asgard, away from the tragic past and a people in mourning for their loved ones and their lost world. Loki found it better to tie those feelings up and bury them under layers of cynicism, rather than drag them out in public displays of grief.

After the temples, they crossed over to the Theban Necropolis. Loki kept them cloaked and explained what he wanted Jack to do. He agreed with Strange that there was a connection between Jack and the portal that had been opened in the park. What he hadn’t shared, was that he had also sensed a resonance between his pet demon and the artifact in the museum. He’d learned that it had been discovered buried in the Western Valley and he was curious if there was anything Jack could discover that Strange had missed in his belated recon of the area. That curiosity was why he’d chosen Egypt, as the destination for his first unchaperoned outing. 

Jack removed his shirt and jacket, changed into demi-demon form and took to the sky, spiraling inwards as he searched for something that felt like the portal. Or to be honest with himself, something that felt like the thing in the basement of Stark Tower, which he thought of as the Heart. He’d not told Loki of the magic he’d cast or that he knew where the Avengers had moved the Heart. He vowed to reveal everything once they were done here. After all, this was the first he knew that Loki had had an interest in the thing. Loki took to a falcon's form and circled above him, the light of the full moon painting the ground in silver and black.

Jack could feel tiny stirrings of magic all over the area, but they were similar to what he'd felt at Luxor, faded and harmless and nothing like that which he’d touched before. It wasn't until his fifth lap that he felt it, faint and insistent. He called to Loki and dived toward the source. 

It was here and it called to him. Loki would be pleased. Jack dropped to his knees and started digging in the hard stony ground, clawing the soil and prying out rocks. Loki landed behind him, changing from hawk to Aesir. Jack grinned as he dug. He was being so good. Loki was speaking words of praise, telling him what a good beast he was. Even if the words were strange in his ears, the tone off somehow. He dug faster, ignoring the pain in his bleeding fingertips. Someone grabbed his shoulder and tried to pull him away from the ground. He turned with a snarl and slashed at them. He was confused to see Loki jump away. Had the attacker been between them? It didn’t matter, they were gone and only his master remained. He returned to his digging, the voice of the Mind singing in his ears. He had to hurry, dig faster to free it from it’s prison of earth and magic. 

Jack stopped. He was encircled in a bubble of green magic.

He heard his master’s voice.

“Jack, get up I need you to come over here.”

He whimpered in conflict. 

“It’s here master, we have to free it.” The words were strange in his mouth, the sounds different then he remembered.”

“Not right now Jack it will be safe where it is.” His master said. “We will fetch tools so you will be able to dig faster.” 

That made sense and the compulsion to dig waned in the need to obey his master. Besides his master had twice named him 'beloved little one'.

Jack trotted at his master’s side, his arm held in his master’s grip. 

“We must hurry. Dawn will be here soon and the enemy will return with the sun.” Jack said.

He knew the words were true, they were written on his soul. The priests would try and stop them in the daylight.

Jack followed his master, the dark lord of deception, out of the resting place of the dead. The world shifted as they moved. Tombs were whole and freshly painted one moment and were nothing more than eroded foundations the next. The carefully tended paths and the nightly offerings to the dead became transparent. He whined in confusion and looked back over his shoulder. 

His master was pulling him forward, away from the Mind. The green glow of magic was a trick making the world wrong. Trickster, his memory provided, Loki was a trickster, Loki was tricking him away from the Mind. From his true purpose. He jerked trying to get away, and the false master dragged him forward. The magic around him redoubled and he was inside a city, but it was horribly wrong. Lights blazed everywhere, blinding and bright in a myriad of flashing colors. Strange wagons rushed by screaming and smoking, without ox or ass, or even a camel to pull them. The buildings towered as high as the pyramids, higher and people where everywhere in the dark made day. Not hiding behind the scant protection of walls and prayers as they should. He shivered in terror and confusion and howled. The false master pinned him to a wall and Jack bucked and twisted, the power of the Mind flowing through him. He almost broke free and then the world shifted again and he was inside a room.

For a moment Jack was himself and he looked up into Loki’s face. 

“Loki! It’s in my head! Don’t let it take me over! ”

“I won’t." Loki said and shoved him in the bathroom, slamming the door shut. Jack panted in the dark room. The green magic was stronger, flowing through the walls, the ceiling and the floor. He screamed in frustration and clawed at the door but his claws made no marks on the wood. The walls were not adobe brick nor stacked stone but plaster between paper and he attacked them but the green turned his claws away as if they were built of the hardest granite. He threw himself at the door crying and begging to be freed. He stopped trying to break the walls with his body and called up his power. He glowed with it. Jack turned it against the slithering green seidr that was his prison. 

He could hear the false master ( Loki, his god, his beloved) talking as he tore at the twisting green threads. He felt the surge as another mage joined his and spat his rage. (That was Dr. Strange. Were they not enemies? Why would Loki call him?) 

Strange would free him. The green magic was weakening, so tendrils of Jack’s magic could seep beyond the seidr built cage. Jack could feel the human mage his mind unsheilded and easy to read. He knew how to appeal to this one.

“Dr. Strange,” he called and his voice was softer, higher. “Let me out, please. Loki is lying. He kidnapped me. Please, please. Don’t let him hurt me. Don’t let him beat me again. Free me and I’ll give you everything you want, everything you desire.”

“Are you ready Strange?” 

Loki’s cold voice hurt him. Jack sobbed at the sense of loss. He ripped at the magic that imprisoned him, desperate to be out, to be in his god’s arms, to beg his forgiveness, to destroy him. 

The barrier was suddenly gone. Rage and power filled Jack. He kicked the door, splintering the lock and knocking one of the hinges off. The false master was in his path and he attacked, knocking him to the floor. His nails reached for the green eyes and he fought the weakening grip on his wrists. He would blind the creature.

“Strange!” Loki yelled.

The human mage held a spitting magic in his hands and Jack sent his power into the man’s mind.

“Help me Dr., please!” Jack begged.

The mage hesitated and Jack clawed his nails over Loki's sharp cheekbones, drawing blood. The mage's flowing cape suddenly slapped the man. He blinked as his mind cleared and the power leapt from his hands to settle in a burning circle around Jack’s neck. As soon as it closed, Loki flipped Jack on his back, holding him down easily, now. Jack stopped fighting and sobbed. 

“I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it.” His voice was panicked and shrill in his ears. 

Loki sat up and released Jack’s wrists, he sent Strange a venomous look.

“What, by Audumbla’s teats, were you waiting for?” Loki snarled, standing and straightening his jacket.

Jack wrapped his arms around his knees. That felt wrong, something was wrong with his chest.

“I didn’t expect it to be a woman.” Strange said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An Incubus and a succubus are the same creature. But sometime you have to live a thing to really understand it. Don't judge the Dr. too harshly. Jack did take on the appearance of what Dr. Strange finds most physically attractive in a woman. Seeing a beautiful woman, instead of the winged and tailed demon, threw him off his game for a moment.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack tells the truth about his time in Stark tower. Some of it anyway. Loki deals with his thrall's misguided actions and discovers a part of his true nature.

“I would have thought the change in his voice pitch would have given you a clue.” Loki said. 

Jack was stunned. He looked at his chest. He had breasts! Fucking breasts! And his pants were too long and too tight across his ass and his freaking hands were too small and his arms were skinny as hell. He surged to his feet.

“What the fuck? What the fucking fuck did you do to me?” He yelled at Strange. “Turn me the fuck back, right the fuck now!”

"He may appear different, but I would know that eloquent language anywhere." Loki said. “Jack, it was not Dr. Strange who is responsible for your change of form.” Loki paused and tilted his head. “At least not directly. Though his proclivity for curvaceous brunets was undoubtedly an influence. It is likely the artifact you found awoke your ability as an incubus to shift into a succubus."

He handed Jack the shirt he’d been wearing earlier. 

“Put this on, you’re distracting the Doctor.”

Jack donned the shirt. It gaped open between the buttons.

“Can you please change me back?” He asked Loki. He tried to not make it sound like a demand. 

“Not at the moment. We have more important things to worry about.”

Jack bit his lip to keep from cursing again. He’d said please and Loki was back to playing games.

“Like what?!”

OK, so that came out a little rude. But fuck, this was important to him. The damn collar was still spitting sparks. He raised his hand to see if he could get it off and it tightened in warning.

“Does not your behavior in the past hour strike you as odd?” Loki asked.

Jack considered. He had been a bit obsessed about digging up the artifact, (the Mind, that’s what it was.) but wasn’t that what Loki had sent him to find? And yeah he’d attacked Loki after he’d got out of the bathroom, but who like being locked in a tiny room without explanation. Hell, hadn’t he punched Thor this morning just for a stupid, misunderstood attempt at humor? Yeah, he had been freaked out when they’d first arrived back in Cairo, but after the quiet of the desert it was a bit overwhelming.

“No not really.” Jack answered. “You’re the one who got pissy just because I found the thing _you_ were looking for. And you locked me in the bathroom for no damn reason.”

“Tell me Jack. How much Latin do you speak?”

“Latin? None. Who the hell speaks Latin? Do I look like a priest? What does that have to do with anything? Take this stupid collar off and change me back.”

“I only ask because that is what you are speaking now.”

“What?” 

Strange raised his hands again and a second spitting circle formed between them. 

“The hell you are not!” Jack said backing away.

Loki pinned him and a second layer of magic closed around his throat. He sagged against Loki. Turned in his arms and buried his head against his god’s neck. He was trembling.

“It’s in my head. Please, Loki, get it out. It’s trying to take over.”

“We will, little demon.” Loki said and sat Jack down on the couch.

“The first thing is to remove that artifact and bind it.” Strange said. “I’m going to need help for this. I am concerned at how quickly it took over your servant. It should have taken time to attune itself to her mind. ”

“His mind! I’m not a woman. ” Jack snapped. He bit his lower lip and looked away.

Loki caught the tell.

“Jack,” Loki said in a cold tone. “What did you do?”

“Nothing! I didn’t, uh, not really.” Loki’s unsympathetic look made Jack want to hide.

“I thought you wanted it. When Ms. Potts said what you wanted wouldn’t be good for earth, I thought you were after it, after the Heart. I only found out it was hidden in Stark tower and how it was protected. I didn’t do anything to it. I just looked at it.”

“‘The heart’ being the artifact that the insect creatures were after.”

Jack nodded. 

“Why did you not tell me this?”

“I was going to, but then I found out all you wanted was to be able to travel and, I thought you’d be mad. Mad at me for thinking you wanted anoth… for wanting such a powerful object. What was the harm? I didn’t take it, I didn’t take the protections down.” 

Jack was quick to catch his tongue. Loki’s avoidance of all things linked to Thanos might be one of those things that Loki either didn’t remember, or wasn’t able to think about. He’s seen the scars Loki bore back on Sakaar. If he’d forgotten whatever tortures Thanos had put him through, Jack sure as hell didn’t want to bring it back to him. Trying to shelter him from his invasion of New York was doomed to failure, but again Jack wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up.

“There is of course a bigger problem.” Strange said, interrupting Jack’s thoughts. “The information may have flowed both ways. If these things have others under their influence, they may now know where and how the first one is protected. If you have this under control I’ll deal with the artifacts. We may need her, uh, him to locate any remaining pieces.”

Loki gave a curt nod. Strange cast a golden sparking portal, pulled it over himself and was gone. Loki sagged and dropped the illusion he’d held in the presence of the sorcerer. Jack caught him and staggered under his weight. He helped Loki to a chair where he leaned back and closed his eyes, pale and breathing hard. Jack fetched a blanket and wrapped it around Loki’s shoulders.

“Maybe you should go to bed?”

“No. You cannot be trusted while the second artifact is unguarded, therefore I cannot sleep.” Loki sat up.

“I didn’t want to cause trouble, I just wanted to help you.”

“You don’t think things through Jack. I didn’t need that kind of help.” Loki softened his speech at Jack’s crestfallen expression. “However, you could help by ordering coffee. This will likely be a long night.”

Loki called room service and soon a small pot of coffee, foaming dark and sweet, accompanied with several pastries arrived. He sat at Loki’s feet while he drank and ate. Loki finished his coffee and threaded his fingers through Jack’s hair.

“Why did you think I would want an artifact of such malevolent power?” Loki asked.

“I was wrong. As you said, I didn’t think things through.”

“Jack.”

“I’m not supposed to say.”

“Ah. Thor told you that?”

Jack nodded. Not that, in specific, but anything that Loki seemed to avoid or not remember was off topic.

“Jack I do not wholly believe you. You were under the influence of an item of some power. Tell me your motivation for seeking its whereabouts.”

“Because of New York.”

“The fight last week?” Loki seemed puzzled.

“No. Before.” Jack stopped again. “Please, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Ah. I see. The invasion.” Loki sighed. 

He rubbed the space between his eyes. It wasn't that he didn't know he'd invaded the City, lead an army there. He knew it, he just didn't remember doing it, not really. It was like watching one of the Midgardian's television shows. Something far from him. Something he'd rather keep buried.

“You believed that, I should like to make a second attempt to take over your home world and cause countless deaths in the process, you would assist.”

That was suspiciously stupid to Jack.

“Uh. Yeah? It seemed to make sense at the time.”

“At the time. The same time you were crying over the few who had lost their lives in the minor attack we thwarted. It somehow made sense to attempt to aid me in a major war of global conquest?”

Jack squirmed and bit his lip again.

“It sounds really idiotic when you say it out loud.”

“It is idiotic, even for you.” Loki said which earned him a glare from Jack. “If I had known Strange was going to hide the artifact at Stark's Tower, I would have never let you stay. You weren’t the only idiotic one. What was he thinking? Strange was the one who first noticed the affinity between you and the attacker's portal.”

“In his defense I don’t think Stark told him I was there. I was kind of an embarrassment to him. And the tower is a lot more defensible then the museum.”

Loki nodded, though he didn’t lose his annoyed look.

“Is that why you performed sex magic? To find the artifact?”

“The Heart.” Jack corrected him automatically. “Kinda. I’d already found it. I raised power was so I could get past the shields.”

“You were able to breach the shielding then?”

“Not so much breach, as slid between. There’s a lot of layers on it. And I didn’t take them off. I just looked.”

“Don’t you need a partner for sex magic?”

Jack looked away, pressed his mouth closed. That was none of Loki’s business. Now he was simply prying. What he had done with, or rather to Stark was private. He’d had his reasons for it and they were good reasons. Acquiring knowledge was always good. Jack thought about the Heart, hidden in the tower, its pulsing call. How the Mind buried in the desert echoed that call. Would Strange try to put them together? It would make the old god stronger. The golden collar made an angry buzzing sound. Loki tugged his hair.

“Jack, look at me. You have to fight this.”

Jack looked up at Loki and whined low in his throat. 

“It keeps sneaking back in. Not one voice, but a lot of them. They're clawing at me, at the collar.” 

Jack shrugged his shoulders and succeeded in reaching his fingers around the glowing band of power for an instant. The resulting popping snap and sudden squeeze around his throat caused him to yank his hand away. 

“I had thought to get more information from you. However, I see this is only making the influence stronger.”

“If you took off the damn collar I could think better. Answer your questions better.” Jack ran his hands down his chest, cupped his breasts. “You could have this body. Don’t you want to fuck me like this?”  
The collar spat gold sparks and a tendril of Loki's green magic intertwined with it.

“Fuck!” Jack spat, dropping his hands and pushing them out as though to expel the very thought. “I don’t want That! Akk! I didn’t mean that.”

He glanced up at Loki concerned that he’d had to use his magic again, in his drained condition. He looked for an opening. How bad was his weakness?

“Jack!” Loki’s voice slashed across the intruding thoughts like a sword of ice. Jack blinked, and shivered in fear.

“See if there is paper and pen in the desk.”

Jack got up and went across the room. The distance would help him to plan, to think about his moves as he completed the mundane task. He opened the desk drawer, found writing paper and a pen and two pencils. He hissed in frustration. Even if he could overcome Loki there was still Strange’s collar to defeat. The collar buzzed and sparked. He slammed his fist into the wood. He'd kill them both. Rip their hearts from their chests...

“Jack!” Loki’s seidr slapped Jack across the face. He swung around, his teeth bared.

“Come here little demon.” Loki’s voice was softer and Jack gave a cry.

“Help me! Don’t let it take me over.”

“I won’t.” Loki said.

He looked so tired Jack wanted to hold him, comfort him, kiss him, fuck him, suck the breath from his body. The collar buzzed again, the power building at his throat. Jack shook his head trying to get the insidious thought out.

“Jack, listen to me. I want you to draw something for me. I want you to remember when we went down to the bay where the fishing boats were unloading.”

Jack considered. He remembered the way the waves sparkled and the warm breeze felt on his face and the fishy smell of the boats. Thought about how Loki had looked sad and little dreamy as he gazed at the sea. 

“Good. Good Jack.” Loki said. “Can you draw me a picture of that?”

“Un huh.” Jack said thinking of how to compose the drawing, pencil in hand as he started to sketch. He drew the hills that circled the bay, across the top of the picture. Placed a cluster of white houses on the crest and added the double arch of the small gothic church. He worked capturing the motion of the waves in the midground. Then he sketched in the pier, stretching across the lower third of the paper. Behind it he placed the prow of a boat, the back of a fisherman bent as he lifts a crate of fish, the longshoreman already reaching up to bring the crate onto the pier. In the foreground, Jack drew the familiar silhouette of Loki's the shoulders, a spill of black windblown hair, a slender hand raised to tuck the straying strands back behind his ear. Light picked out the sharp edge of his cheek and jaw, the tip of his nose and the curve of his forehead. He eye was in shadow.

Jack deepened the tone of the waves. Pulled out the lighter crests with the eraser. He darkened the pier black where the boat blocked the sunlight, causing half the longshoreman to be lost to shade. He used the pen to add emphasis in a few places. The cream colored paper was good for some of the lighter tones but..

“I need a Conte crayon, white to get the highlights. And a softer pencil. There’s too much contrast between the pen and these damn number twos.” Jack groused. “Chalk and charcoal would be better and paper with some tooth to it. I can only get a rough study with this crap.” 

Loki stroked Jack’s hair as he drew. That felt right, felt good.

“You are doing fine. A rough study is all I need.”

“Well that’s all you’re getting. That’s the best I can do. This damn pen is running dry. A place like this, you’d think they'd have classier pens.”

“You do portraits, correct?" 

At Jack’s nod, Loki continued.

“Do you remember where we had lunch? Could you draw the proprietress for me?”

“No. The pencils are too dull and there’s no sharpener.”

“Will this do?” Loki asked and handed Jack a small dagger. Loki watched Jack carefully, which annoyed him. He wasn’t an imbecile. He could sharpen a fucking pencil, even if the two edged blade made it awkward. He flipped to a clean page of stationary and started the second drawing.

She was a good subject. He remembered her wide smile, long nose and large dark eyes with small wrinkles at the corners. Her brown hair was streaked with grey. Her hands were small and neat with short fingers. She was wearing a plain gold wedding band and a gold bracelet with tiny charms on one wrist. Jack added one of the arched windows behind her and a shadow to show the thick wall. He sketched the edge of one round table, for a sense of place. He looked at the sketch critically. She was a naturally smiling woman, but she’d suffered loss. He added a slight down turn to the eyelids, deepened the lines from nose to mouth and added a little more dark under her eyes.

“You are not bad at this.” Loki said.

“Not bad.” Jack snorted. “I’m damn good. It’s how I made my living for thirty years.

He added the soft shape of flowers that clustered outside the window, and dusted their shadows on the sill.

“I’ll have you know I personally designed, drew and painted every major mural in all five of your churches on Sakaar. I had to draw a lot of that from memory. The recordings of you were somewhat limited in subject matter. While I enjoyed watching some of them, a mural of their god with his bare ass in the air was not exactly the image I thought best to portray.”

That got Jack a clip on the ear, but he laughed. When he glanced up at his god, Loki was, if not exactly smiling, at least it wasn’t a scowl.

Jack yawned. Outside their window the sky was making the swift transition from darkness into light.

He sharpened the pencils again and handed Loki back the dagger.

“If it’s alright, can we go to bed? I’m not going to draw worth a crap unless I get some sleep.”

“One last drawing Jack. There was a donkey in the field by the olive trees. Do you remember it?”

Jack cast his mind back. The scent of dust and olive orchards and sun warmed grass. The noise of a bus driving by and the reek of exhaust. There under the shade of a scrubby oak…

“It was a mule. Shaggy and small but still a mule. Probably half pony. It had a white patch on one shoulder.”

“Can you draw it?”

“Of course, I can draw a fucking mule.” 

Jack started working. The drawing was looser and rougher and he cursed more than once and started over twice. Loki’s cell rang and he answered and spoke, while Jack wrestled with the dappled shade under the tree. He was having trouble making it look like shadows on the mule, instead of spots. He cursed again.

“That is enough Jack.” Loki said when he ended the call.

“No, it’s not. You wanted the damn mule, you’re getting the damn mule.” Jack grumbled.

He added rippled shade to the grass and pulled a reflected light on the mule’s belly.

“Little demon.” Loki said in a low warning tone.

“Fuck off! I’m almost done. I don’t bug you when you’re spell casting, you don’t bug me when I’m drawing.”

The texture on the tree trunk needed to be darker on the sunlit side. There that was better. A fence post and few strands of wire to set the boundary. Jack held the picture up examined it and nodded. That was as good at it was going to get. He wouldn’t make a painting from it, but it wasn’t too bad. 

He turned to hand the pictures up to Loki and was startled at his appearance. Loki’s skin was dull and waxy with a blue-grey undertone and he had dark circles under his eyes. His hair hung limp with sweat. The green fire of his eyes was dimmed and his hands trembled. Jack swore and leapt to his feet. This was mage sickness. His first instinct was to pour power into Loki to alleviate the worst of the symptoms. He lay his hands on Loki’s chilled arms and tried to reach for his own magic, only to hiss in frustration as the collar spit and sparked.

“I need to call Strange and get you help.” Jack said, searching for Loki’s cell phone.

“You will not.”

“You could die!”

“I am tired and cold but I will not die. There is no need for your to overreact. I merely need to rest." Loki tried to get up from the chair and sank back down with a gasp. He looked even greyer. "I may require your assistance.” Loki tilted his head toward the bedroom. 

Jack was almost frantic with worry. He took Loki’s hand to pull him to his feet and was unable to lift him more than a few inches before he once more fell back in his chair. 

"Perhaps it is better if I remain here to rest." Loki said.

"Fuck that!"

He knew Loki was heavy for his size, more than twice what a human would weigh, but he’d been able to manage him before. However, trapped in this form with his magic sealed away by Dr. Strange’s spell, he had only the limited strength of a small, nonathletic woman. He cursed Strange again. Why couldn’t the bastard have been attracted to a big burly man built like a linebacker? He thought for a few minutes and then, using the only appreciable muscle this shape had, tilted the chair back. Walking backward, he dragged chair and Loki both across the floor and into the bedroom. He managed to get Loki into the bed with his god’s shaky assistance. Jack turned up the heat in the room, stripped Loki out of his sweat damp clothes and toweled his hair into relative dryness. Loki swore at him, tried to bat his hands away and promised retribution for his interference. Jack ignored Loki’s attitude and crawled into bed beside his shivering owner. He lay half over Loki, wrapping his arms around him, holding on until the shivering stopped.

The room warmed quickly and Loki’s breathing slowed and deepened. Jack relaxed into the drowsy heat. He shifted and the wrongness of his body made his stomach twist. It had been better when he was drawing, he could take his mind off of the transformation. He tightened his jaw and squelched his thoughts. He knew where such ruminations would lead and he’d already caused enough trouble today. He refused to have a fit now, no matter how much he wanted to scream and rant. They rested. Loki finally sleeping while Jack drifted in a dull tired haze. Keeping guard, through the hours of daylight while his god slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A damaged god, an uneasy wizard and a dumbass demon walk into a bar...


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Complications arise. Untrustworthy allies. Traveling. The wonders down under. Jack cannot shut the fuck up.

Jack startled awake. It was dark and he was alone in the bed. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but sometime during the afternoon he’d drifted off. He stretched and stopped abruptly. 

“Fuck!” he snarled. 

He was still in female form, still locked in the shape of Strange’s wet dream of a woman. He tried to shift back only to hear a warning buzz from the spell. He growled and grabbed the ensorcelled collar and tried to unbuckle it. The magic buzzed louder and tightened around his throat.

“Damn It!” The cry was half strangled. 

Jack lost all patience and pulled at the leather as the spell spat sparks that burned his hands and throat. He couldn’t breathe and rage surged through his mind. He clawed at the collar, at his own skin, his vision starting to grey. 

The door opened and Loki was silhouetted by light. 

“Are you attempting to strangle yourself? If so could you do it with less noise? I’m taking a call.”

The bored mocking tone was like a splash of cold water in Jack’s face. He stopped fighting and the spell immediately released its hold. He drew a harsh breath. Another. 

“Loki, I…” 

But his god had returned to the front room. Jack could hear his half of a conversation. He got up and padded out to join him.

“Have you tried Semei’s spell of unbinding?” Loki said. “Hmm… what about Kelly’s nullifying rune? How should I know? Your people stole the artifact from the dark dimension. If humans didn’t insist on worshiping any power they didn’t understand…”

“Is that Dr. Strange?” Jack asked. "Tell him to take off his stupid spell.”

Loki waved Jack off with a frown.

“Can you ask him? Dead? It’s only been three hundred…” Loki sighed. “A species as pathetically short lived as humans has no business welding magic. Are there no records? Schism? No, I don’t deal in death magics. Yes, I do know someone, but if Hela were here this little puzzle would be the least of your worries.”

Jack wandered over to where a half finished meal sat on a tray and was scarfing down the remains when Loki asked him,

“Where did your mother originate?”

“Milwaukee.” Jack said, trying to not to spit crumbs down his cleavage.

“Not your foster mother, your birth mother.”

“No idea., South of the Arctic Circle is all I know. She died right after I was born.”

“He doesn’t know. If it was Egypt it makes sense, they’d use local supernatural forces especially ones anathema to their enemies. Plus it would be less likely to stray and have more power on its home ground.”

“Ask him about his spell, please!”

“Be silent. No I’m not speaking to you, Doctor. When? How many more pieces? Were you able to find out about who was behind the attack? No. This is a human problem. You should be grateful that I’m lending you the use of my demon."

Jack had been trying to get Loki’s attention and finally laid his hand on Loki’s arm. Loki took the phone away from his face to hiss.

“What? If this is about you being a woman…”

“No! It’s about the relic. It’s important.

“Hold, Doctor.” Loki said into the phone. Then to Jack. “Go on.”

“Tell him don’t put them together. The pieces, I mean. It wants to be together. I think that makes it stronger. Like Serapis, so it can be resurrected.”

“Yes. That would be implicit in its being broken. Only a fool…”

Loki paused, and spoke into the phone. “How are the pieces being secured? I see. No. I think a daylight search is in order. It is too late tonight. Good bye Doctor.”

Loki shut off the phone and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Humans and magic is always a bad mix.” Loki sighed. “Were it not for Thor’s bargain I would leave them to their own folly.”

“What happened? “ Jack asked as he ate the last of Loki’s sandwich. 

“I’ll tell you on the way." Loki said, as he grabbed Jack’s hand. “We may only have a few minutes before someone arrives.”

“But you said not till morning.” Jack snagged a cookie as he was being towed toward the elevator.

“Jack be quiet and keep up.”

Jack trotted beside Loki as they hurried down the busy street. He had to wrap his free arm across his chest to keep his heavy breasts from bouncing. Loki world shifted as soon as the hit an alley. It was cities this time. They went from the dry heat and noise of Cairo to darkened streets, where broken concrete littered the roadways and the sound of gunfire made Jack flinch and move closer to his god. They ducked behind a ruined wall…

“It seems that the two pieces were ‘accidentally’ brought together.” Loki said “There is now a power exchange going on and Strange thinks it would not be advantageous to attempt to separate them until he knows exactly what they were used for. He wanted you to search out the remaining parts tonight, so he can use them to deduce how to remove the power linkage.”

…Jack slipped and splashed into a puddle as they emerged to the rain drenched streets of a neon lit Indian city. People taking shelter under awnings looked at the crazy westerners hurrying through the clearing rain. Jack brushed his wet hair back from his eyes and dodged the fountain of water from a passing bus. 

“How is that supposed to help? And how would he keep them apart from the other two? And why did you think he would come to the hotel in the middle of the night? And why are we running? You can take him.”

Loki entered a small spice store, walked into the storeroom to the sound of the proprietor’s startled screeches and opened a back door…

“I distrust his reasons for acquiring the remaining pieces. Strange may be affected by the relic, and it is doubtful he is working alone. He heads an association of sorcerers. Any encounter would not be one on one. Even if Strange is uninfluenced, others of his ilk may not be, or could desire to own an item of considerable power. You are now the quickest method to finding the rest of the pieces.”

…into a humid warm night. They walked down a quiet street past closed shops. In the distance Jack saw a golden stupa glowing with light. 

“So I’m a target? ‘Cause I can find the missing pieces like I’m some kind of fucking bloodhound?”

“That and because you harbor information they need.”

Loki turned into a pathway that led them across a dim shadowy garden where jasmine scented the air. A bamboo gate opened…

“What? I don’t know anything, about the goddamn thing.”

“You know it was the followers of Serapis that stole the artifact from the sorcerers. You know it contains power from not one person but many.”

… onto a trash strewn backstreet as dawn streaked the sky. Cyrillic scrip was scrawled across the wall opposite an overflowing dumpster. Jack hopped over broken glass and narrowly missed a pile of dog shit. Loki stopped and shoved the dumpster aside. The space behind was filthy and stank of rotting garbage and urine. A crack in the concrete ran down the wall and divided into a narrow inverse ‘V’ the height of a man. Loki touched the crack and green seidr palely outlined a black opening. He propelled Jack through the gap. Jack felt smooth stone under his bare feet in the few steps he took to stop. He turned and saw nothing, heard nothing, but the sound of his own hurried breathing. Then there were quiet footsteps, a scrap and a hiss and a light bloomed soft and golden.

Loki crossed the room and lit an oil lamp from the match he held. By its light Jack could tell they were in a cave. But it was a cave modified into a room. Loki proceeded to light several more lamps and the room brightened. There were tapestries on the wall reflecting rich golds, reds, blues and greens. They depicted what looked like scenes from fairytales, but if so they were not stories he was familiar with. The stone floor was littered with woven rugs. Against one wall was a small table and chair, on another was a single bed. A large bookshelf took up half of a third wall. A few cupboards and a large chest completed the furniture. There were a collection of weird items on the shelves, bits of feathers bound with cord, bones, tiny stones and jars and bottles with scribbled labels. Scarves and throws and various pieces of clothing were hung from hooks and scattered around the room. This was the kind of space he’d expected of Loki when he’d gone to New Asgard. Not the Spartan cabin he'd occupied.

A forth wall had a narrow tunnel that led away into a darkness that had never seen the light of stars nor moon nor sun. There was the faint sound of water dripping down the passage, but the room itself was cool and dry. Jack could almost sense the oppressive weight of the earth over their heads like a brooding thunderstorm. This was a bolt hole that would take a major effort to find. Nothing shielded from magic like the earth itself.

“We shall be undisturbed here while I remove the effects of Strange’s spell.” Loki said.

“So now you’re going to take it off? What was the problem before?” 

Loki caught Jack’s arm and wrenched it painfully behind his back. 

“Before, Strange was an ally. Now he is a potential enemy and I do not wish him to have any hold over my asset, nor be able to trace my movements through you. Do not think that I will withhold discipline solely because you are wearing a female form. If you try my patience Jack, you may spend the next fifty years of your life as a woman.”

“No. Please. Not that.” Jack's voice lost its insolent overtones. He cursed himself for riling up Loki for no purpose other than to vent his own frustration. 

Loki released his arm and went over to one of the cupboards. He took down a couple of jars and a package of dried leaves and laid them out on the table. Jack rubbed his bruised arm and watched him. Loki looked up. 

“Make yourself useful and fetch some water. There is a bucket outside in the passageway.”

Jack took one of the lamps. Even if he were in full ice demon form he couldn’t see in the total darkness of a cave. He found the bucket and followed the trail towards the sound of dripping water. The way had been widened and the path smoothed. At every turn there were new wonders, stalagmites and stalactites and columns that looked like they belonged in a cathedral. He paused to gaze in awe at walls that resembled frozen waves in pastel hues and jagged curtains of reddish gold that sparkled in the light of his lamp. He came to the slowly moving pool of crystal clear water and stared in surprise. At one edge stone bloomed in formations like water lilies. Jack touched one only to have it crumble at the slight pressure of his fingertip. He jerked his hand back from the others, remorseful of the damage he’d inadvertently caused. He went to the rim of the pool farthest away from the flowers and carefully lowered the bucket, rinsed it and refilled it.

Glad he had done no further damage, he turned and retraced his steps. He had gone only a few feet when he was faced with a split in the tunnel. What had seemed like a single trail when he’d walked one way was revealed to have multiple paths as he returned. Jack froze in confusion. The bare stone held no trace of his footprints. It occurred to him that if he put out the light, he might be able to see the glow of the room, but the thought of being in the utter darkness made him pause. He tried to reach out with his magic to find the right path, only to have the collar tighten on his throat in warning. There had to be some clue, he turned around. Maybe if he walked backwards the path would be familiar. He tried that only to whack his head on a protruding stalactite. He’d simply not paid attention. He would have to call Loki. But then his god would be disappointed in him. Again. He couldn’t face that. 

Jack took a deep breath and doused the light. The dark closed in completely. He waited for his eyes to adjust, to see the faint glow of light from the room. Surely he hadn’t gone that far. The dark was complete. He strained his ears and could no longer hear the stream. His pulse increased as he waited. It took at least five minutes for eyes to adjust to the dark. He knew that. He started counting one thousand one, one thousand two… at one thousand five hundred he began to panic. Had he even walked away from the pool in the right direction? He’d moved to the other side to avoid damaging the stone flowers, had he gone back before he started down the path? He couldn't remember. He stared into the inky depths of the cave. He turned slowly in a circle, searching for the slightest hint of which way he should go. 

Was that a light ahead? 

Jack started toward a greyer spot in the utter darkness. It seemed to retreat before him. He trotted faster. Was the grey getting brighter? No, it was going away, leaving him behind. He broke into a run, chasing the lighter patch that was at the very edges of his perception. He brushed past unseen obstacles and stumbled on the uneven floor. The faint light was mocking him, keeping just a little farther ahead. He bumped off the edge of a wall and tripped as his feet struck a shelf, pitching him forward. He fell into darkness and screamed. His scream cut short when he landed on his hands and knees. The drop was a short one. The shock of falling cleared his mind. What the hell was he doing? Chasing around in the dark? He was going to get himself killed. He needed help, even if it would get him in trouble.

“LOKI!” he yelled. The call echoed in the tunnel and there was no answer. 

“Fuck! LOKI! LOKI! I’m lost! Please!”

His calls echoed and reechoed in the cave turning into a jumbled confusing sound like laughter. 

Jack’s heart hammered as panic tried to overcome reason again. The urge to run! run! run! was pounding in his brain. “This way.” it whispered calling to him. He bit his lip till he tasted blood to keep from springing to his feet and racing toward the call.

“Don’t leave me here! Loki! Please! I’m sorry. Don’t leave me.”

 

There was a soft glow off to his left and he turned toward it. He sobbed in relief as a tall figure appeared above him.

“Why didn’t you answer me?” Jack said as he climbed out of the shallow hole he’d fallen into. His voice wavered and he wiped tears from his eyes.

“You ridiculous beast, if you were not making such a racket you could have heard me.” Loki said. “What possessed you to put out your lantern?”

“I got turned around and couldn’t find the way back. I thought if I put out the light I’d see the glow from the room.”

Loki held his lantern up to the tunnel wall. There, clearly carved into the stone was an arrow with a backwards seven pointing toward the pool. Directly above it was another arrow pointing back the way Loki came, combined with a diamond shape on two legs. The carvings were every thirty feet down the tunnel. Back where Jack had been were more shapes and arrows.  
Loki pointed to the carvings.

“Water, home, daylight, death. I thought you were an observant creature, not a complete idiot.”

Loki handed Jack the empty bucket. He took it and turned his head away, too embarrassed to meet Loki’s eyes. He didn’t even remember dropping it.

“I don’t know how I missed them.”

Loki looked at Jack in annoyance and Jack squirmed.

“You are the most exasperating pet I have ever owned. Though I believe you had help getting lost. You found the path to the surface even in the dark. Follow me little fool, and try not to get lost this time. The sooner I remove the spells on you the better.”

Jack followed Loki and the path turned and twisted as it returned to the pool. How he had avoided knocking himself out in the first ten steps was a mystery. After filling the bucket they ascended the trail back to the room in silence. Loki pointed to the floor.

“Sit. Do not move. Do not speak. I would tell you not to even think, but you are quite adept at doing that without instruction.”

Jack sat, chagrined enough for once, to not answer back. Ashamed of his panic. He’d not had an attack like that in years. Not even the fight with the insect people had induced one. His head ached and he could feel something, Strange’s spell or the relic’s remnants clawing at his thoughts.

Loki worked, pouring ingredients into a bowl, grinding the leaves, adding pinches of powder. He rechecked the labels on the bottles and gave them a few sniffs. Once he grabbed Jack’s hand without warning, and pricked his finger with a small dagger. He added the resulting drop of his blood to the mixture. Loki chanted a few words over the bowl. He flipped a couple of pages in the book he had opened, twisted his mouth, and flipped back to his original place. Added a couple of more words and waved his hand. He gave the mixture a doubtful look, when nothing happened. He hummed, shrugged, dipped a spoon in and turned to Jack.

“Open your mouth.”

Jack’s confidence in Loki’s counter spell had been waning the longer he’d worked and he started to say, “Are you sure about this?” But he only got to “you” when Loki popped the spoon in his mouth. The taste was sharp and musty and felt gritty on his tongue.

“Do not swallow the potion, until I command you.”

Jack did not want to swallow it. He wanted to spit it out. Whatever was in the mixture was making his mouth water and not in a good way. Loki consulted the book once more, dipped a paintbrush in the bowl and began drawing designs on Jack’s collar. Immediately Strange’s spell activated, spitting sparks and tightening around Jack’s throat. Jack widened his eyes trying to communicate this to Loki, but the god was engrossed in his work. The tightness increased and Jack was having trouble breathing, the stuff in his mouth felt as if someone had sneaked a couple of habaneros into the mix, which were only now making their presence known.

“O-ee” Jack tried as the spell squeezed harder. In a few more seconds he wouldn’t be able to swallow anything, much less the gag inducing mess, who’s muskiness had resolved into essence of wet dog. 

Loki placed a hand on Jack’s head.

“Now little demon.” He said.

Jack tried. His eyes watered with the effort, his throat felt like it was tearing from the inside and heat burned around his neck. He could feel Loki’s cool power slithering over his head, down his neck, down his throat, fighting the snarling magic. There was something else it was doing, peeling away a deeper, more insidious and subtle contamination. Jack finally was able to get some of the mixture into his belly where it felt like a lump of coal, heavy and solid and oddly warm. He swallowed a second time and more went down, easier this time. A third try and all of the potion was down his throat. The spitting had died to a few spattering hisses and Jack felt Loki’s seidr ripping apart Strange’s spell. Jack’s own power rushed back to him with a surge that left him dizzy and disoriented.

Loki’s magic didn’t stop there. The potion in his belly grew hotter and the heat spread out in pulsing waves, down his guts and up his gullet into his organs and bones and muscles. Jack slumped onto the stone floor and relaxed in total bliss. He lay on his back and he could feel the darkness of the relic erased from his body, cleared from his mind. More than that, he could feel every bit of fear and pain and tension drift away with it. Loki looked down at Jack. 

“That seems to have been successful. Perhaps a bit too much Alfheimr tree root fungus.”

“No. It’s perfect. Everything is perfect.” Jack said and smiled beatifically.

“Definitely too much fungus.”

“You are so beautiful. I fucking love you. I love everything about you. I love the little wrinkle between your eyes when you frown like that.” Jack said. He raised his hand to touch Loki’s face, and laughed when he couldn’t reach him. Loki caught his waving hand.

“The good part is the effect will wear off in a few hours. The bad part,” Loki said, as he hauled Jack up into a sitting position and leaned him against a wall, “is you will be insufferable until it does.”

“I am not insuffererabubble.” Jack giggled. “Hey look! I still have tits.”

“I am aware of that.”

“I was really bothered by them before, wasn’t I? But I like tits. They are soft and warm and have big nipples that are fun to suck.”

“Yes, little demon. I do not suppose you shall be able to keep quiet?” Loki put away the spell ingredients and used some of the water to wash out the bowl. 

“No. You know I can’t Loki. You know I can never ever, ever stay quiet. Not even when I promise and promise to. I mean to, but words just bubble up, I don’t even have to think about it. There they are, coming right out of mouth. I surprise myself sometimes.”

Loki sighed. “I do not doubt it.”

“If you really want me to be quiet, you could put your dick in my mouth.” Jack suggested.

“Jack, you are under the influence of a rather powerful mood altering drug.”

“Mood altering, not mind altering. Which means for once I’m happy. I am happy, happy, happy. I haven’t been really happy since I was divorced. Poor Finlos. He put up with so much shit from me. He deserved better. I hope he’s happy. I don’t deserve to be happy. I’m not even a person, I’m just a thing, a tool. That’s why the relic could take control of me.” 

Loki figured if Jack was going to blather, he could at least get some information from him.

“Tell me about the relic, Jack.”

“I tried to before, but it, they wouldn’t let me. So many voices making up one voice, telling me what to do. It made me feel so sure, Loki. That I was doing the right thing. That I was being good. You know what I am, how much I need direction. It was so hard to fight it.”

“But you did fight it, little demon. You did very well. What can you tell me about the voices?”

“They,” Jack frowned, as he thought. “They were a little like the ghost impressions at the arena, on Sakaar. Only a lot stronger, almost as if they were really ghosts. Angry ghosts. And they were frightened, Loki, frightened of losing their world. Losing their gods. So they made a place to hold them? Him? It’s really confusing. I got images of rituals. I think they were mages before they died. They didn’t even speak the same languages. Under the voices there is this hungry thing. Using them? Or they’re using it?”

“They were priests of Serapis, who created the relic?”

“Uh huh. And Osiris, Ra, even Set. Like, they changed over time, depending on who had control of it. This should scare me. I wasn’t able to tell you, before. It made me not want to tell you. Among other things. That reminds me.”

Jack reached for his magic and shifted back into demi-demon form. He pulled his shirt off, extended his wings and slid his tail out of the back of his pants. He stretched as best he was able to while seated. He ran his hand down his flat chest and rubbed over his cock and balls. He sighed.

“Damn, that feels good. I was really uncomfortable before.”

“Why?” Loki asked as he sat down in the chair. “You seem to have reached a level of comfort with your ice demon form. Why was it so disconcerting for you to be female?”

“For one, I’m not a woman. I don’t want to look like one.”

“I’ll allow that your identity is male. Was that all?”

“No. It was like, it was one more way for my body to betray me. That it will shift without my will or desire. I hate that. Having it shift under the influence of some dead god’s relic was horrible. It’s bad enough that I shape shift when I’m freaked out or when we fuck, but for my body to shift under another’s will.” Jack shook his head. “It was like being summoned all over again. It reminds me I’m a thing instead of a person.” 

“Why do you consider yourself a thing?”

“I was made for one purpose. To pass on the history of the ice people so it wouldn’t die with my sire. But he was insane. Their history is one part inherited memories and one part shared memories. Stories they told each other. All I’ve got is part of his inherited memories. I’m a history book with most of its pages missing. My children will only inherit a portion of the history I have, so it will die out anyway. There is no way to preserve it. I’m a broken tool. I can’t do what I was created for. That is so sad. I should feel sad right? I don’t though, I still feel happy.” 

“I see your point. Is one the result of one’s blood and breeding, one’s upbringing or one’s choices? The eternal question is what path are you destined to follow?” 

“The one with the signs I can’t read.” Jack said and laughed. “What does it matter anyway? In truth I’m only something to be used up and thrown away.” 

“You seem truly frightened, I will do that.”

“You did before.”

Jack put both hands over his mouth as though to catch the words before they left.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean that. I know it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t remember.”

“I see.” Loki rubbed the space between his eyes. “Little wonder you do not trust my words now.”

Jack got to his knees and crawled unsteadily over to Loki. The room was swaying like a ship at sea and he had to hold onto the floor to keep from falling off. His head hit Loki’s shins and Jack sat and hugged his god’s legs.

“Don’t be sad, please don’t be sad. I want you to be happy. Let me make you happy. Please?”

“Let me guess, you want to have sex in the hopes that it will cheer me up.”

“It doesn’t?” Jack said. He tilted his head.

“Not particularly.”

“But it feels good?”

“Normally.”

“I like it, especially when I’m pleasing you. That feels really good. No matter what it is I’m doing. I like being, uh useful? Wanted? Knowing I have some kind of value. That’s why I liked it when you had Thor spank me. Because I knew you wanted him to.”

“That is the only reason you liked it?” Loki sounded doubtful.

Jack laughed. “Fuck no. It also felt good because he didn’t want to do it at first, and I liked being a part of him feeling uncomfortable. Then it was even hotter once it got started. Loki, you’ve seen Finlos. I like big guys. I like you being bigger than me, I like Thor being even more bigger than me. The feeling of being totally physically overwhelmed, being enveloped in another’s body. Being filled full of cock is so sweet. If I wasn’t high as a kite I’d never tell you that after seeing you and him together, I want to be fucked by both of you at the same time. If your brother wasn’t such a total asshole and didn’t scare the crap out of me, that is.”

“You do understand you said that out loud.”

“Uh huh. But I won’t remember this when I come down, so it doesn’t matter.” Jack grinned up at Loki.

“I will remember Jack. I am not high. You also will remember, amnesia is not an effect of the fungus.

“Oh fuck. Are you mad I said it? I can totally take it back.”

“Which part? That you think my brother is a “total asshole” or that you want him to fuck you?”

“Um…both?”

“Jack, be silent.”

“I want to. I really do. I would really rather suck your cock then talk. But my brain won’t shut down. I don’t know how to turn it off.”

Loki put his hand under Jack’s chin, tilted it up and ran his fingers over Jack’s lips. Green light followed the path Loki traced, slid into Jack’s mouth and coiled over his tongue. Jack tried to speak and no sound came out. He exhaled in relief and laid his head on Loki’s knee. Without an outlet his thoughts slowed, calmed. He rubbed the side of his face on Loki’s thigh.

Loki contemplated Jack. He was clearly aroused. The demon was a source of power, and could be easily recharged by engaging in sex. His own reserves were low from his recent magic use. They may be safe enough here for a few days, but should he not make use of the time to build up an arsenal of spells? Jack was right. The fungus altered its user’s moods, it didn’t make them unable to think. In Jack’s case it was acting as a euphoric. The demon was even now trying to sway Loki’s reservations, under the guise of being affectionate. He stroked Jack’s cheek and the demon turned his head and licked Loki’s fingertips with a look of longing in his eyes. Loki smiled to himself. As ways of raising power went, this would not be unpleasant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Loki. Having to deal with a horny, happy, high demon. Who also happens to be a convenient source of renewable energy. Is Doctor Strange ally or enemy? Will Jack ever get his wish? Or shut up for more then five minutes?


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PWP or That's one way to recharge an incubus' batteries. Loki/Jack   
> An interesting discovery Jack will have to deal with later.

Jack hummed softly to himself, his cheek resting on Loki’s thigh, enjoying the textured linen of his god’s tailored pants on his skin. Loki’s spell of silence always calmed his mind. He became focused on sensation rather than words and the touch of Loki’s cool fingers on his face made him sigh. The taste of his owner, when he turned to lick his hand, held the barest hint of a musky bitterness. The earthy flavor no doubt from the herbs he’d been mixing, but the bitterness? To Jack’s tongue, Loki’s skin always carried a trace of the sharp flavor of juniper berries, and underneath his male scent there was a whiff of cedar. Combined with his lower body temperature, it brought to mind evergreen forests cloaked in snow. He found it an oddly comforting image made of cold and quiet power. 

He wanted Loki to fuck him like an avalanche and bury him in the heart of winter. He smiled at the image. Tumbled and broken and utterly helpless before his god’s strength. It was a feeling he loved.   
He lifted his head when Loki took his fingers from Jack’s mouth, straightened up and undid the buttons on his shirt. He bared his teeth as the cream colored cloth parted to reveal Loki’s lean muscled torso. The skin was a warmer shade of pale then his shirt, his nipples a soft rose pink with the occasional freckle dotted here and there on the smooth expanse. Jack growled low in the back of his throat, an expression of desire not aggression. His tail flicked like an angry cat’s.

Loki pushed his head away and said.

“Remove my shoes little beast.”

Jack scooted back from where he knelt between Loki’s knees. The shoes were beautiful things, crafted of fine gleaming leather, and though they should bear the signs of their passage through mud and worse, they were as spotless as when they were first made. It was a minor spell that Loki performed without even thinking, so much a part of his normal fastidious habit, Jack wondered if he even considered it magic. The thin silk socks peeled away under Jack's fingers and he set the footwear aside to contemplate his owner’s feet. That he pressed his lips to the top of Loki’s feet was a given. The show of deference was just a premise to allow him to run his tongue up the slender metatarsals. He traced the delicate architecture of bones to the ankle. He wanted to map out every bone in Loki’s body with kisses and soft licks, explore the way tendons ran from the bone into muscle and the way his muscles shifted under his skin. 

His thoughts were interrupted by Loki grasping a handful of hair and tugging his head back up. Jack blinked in confusion at the sudden change of view and then nuzzled the inside of his owner’s thigh. When the pressure on the back of his head increased, he leaned forward and pressed his face against the front of Loki’s pants and breathed in. Male scent and the warm musk of arousal triggered a response in Jack that made him hum as he mouthed Loki’s cock through the thin material. He could feel him hardening under his lips. The hand moved from the back of his head to his forehead and he was again pushed away, but Loki’s fingers on the fly gave Jack hope. He squirmed out of his own pants as Loki’s cock sprang free of the dampened material.

Though he needed no guidance, Loki’s hand on his chin drawing him in, made Jack shiver. He loved being directed and this was the most physical of demands. His eyes half closed and he darted his tongue out to lap over the red flushed head. Loki’s soft gasp was his reward. He looked into his god’s eyes with reverence as his lips slid wet and soft over Loki’s cock. This was an intimate act of worship for Jack. Pleasuring his god, giving him his complete focused attention. His entire world narrowed to the feel of velvet skin on his palate, the way the foreskin moved under his lips, the brush against the inside of his cheeks.

“Show me, little beast, what use is your tongue.”

Jack shivered again at Loki’s words. He slurped up the gleaming length to swirl his tongue over the head. He licked the line of his urethra as he bobbed back down, sucking wetly as Loki’s cock filled his mouth again. Caressing Loki’s shaft with slow laps. The taste, the scent, the warm touch on the inside of his mouth was overwhelming and his hips rocked, his jutting cock seeking friction. He hummed in pleasure and the sound of Loki’s sharp indrawn breath, gave him a warm sense of satisfaction. He hummed again and placed his hands on Loki’s hips to beg him into action. 

Jack’s pleasure in sucking cock was increased, because it was Loki’s cock he was sucking. His god’s beauty was enticing, the magic he exuded was more so and the geas and ancient spells laid on him furthered the attraction. Jack wasn’t even sure he liked Loki, didn’t know if his desire was real or a result of the magic woven into his very being. He knew damn well he didn’t love him. But adoration, that was undoubtedly a part of his mixed feelings. And a misplaced protective tenderness. He absently noted that the cluster of freckles in the hollow of Loki’s hipbone was unchanged from when he had first seen them years before. That observation tugged at his heart. His eyes shifted to the soft trail of black hairs that led down from his navel to the coarse curls at the base of his cock. Those brushed Jack’s nose as Loki responded to Jack’s urging hands and thrust into his throat. Jack swallowed, opened his throat and moaned as he was filled deeper, suppressing his gag response with well-practiced ease. Saliva filled his mouth as Loki pulled out of his throat only to spill down his chin as the thick cock was shoved even farther down his gullet. Slender fingers threaded through his ebony hair, pulling the thick strands hard enough to send pleasant twinges over his scalp. He focused on breathing through his long nose as Loki rocked his hips, fucking steadily into the tight grasp of his throat. 

The room brightened and Jack realized his eyes had shifted color. He let it happen. He knew he wouldn’t change further and he already had mastered the art of keeping his sharp teeth covered and away from too tender flesh. If Loki’s increased vigor resulted in the occasional tooth piercing the inside of his cheek, Jack took that as a sweet gift of pain that spiced his pleasure. He suckled on Loki’s thrusting shaft and enjoyed the rough plunge over his tongue and into his throat, and the ache that was just starting in his jaw.

He moved to rut his own aching prick against Loki’s shin. The grip on his hair tightened and Loki pulled his head back. Jack growled as he reluctantly released his lips from Loki’s cock. A sharp tap, not quite a slap, on his cheek reminded Jack who was in charge.

He was shoved onto his butt and he watched as Loki stood, stepping out of his pants and undershorts. Jack gazed with a wolfish hunger at Loki’s lean, long limbed physique. While he wasn’t Jack’s normal type, which ran to either big, buff men or large, muscular women, Loki was undoubtedly beautiful. Jack’s preferences had to do more with physical strength then appearance and Loki met that criteria with ample measure. Loki could and had, easily thrown Jack across a room. The memory caused Jack to whine in anticipation. His whine increase to a shuddering moan when Loki pulled a dagger from his interdimensional pocket and let his seidr play over the shining blade.

The display of power was both threat and a promise to indulge Jack’s darkest kink. He lay back on the rough woven wool rug. His heart was pounding with arousal and anxiety. He shivered like a fly bit horse when Loki knelt and placed a hand on his chest. The pale scars of knotwork, normally white on his fair skin glowed with a faint blue light in response to Loki’s magic.

“It is time you learned how to cast a proper shield. Not these temporary barriers you have been using. Nor that jumbled mess you constructed on Sakaar. Something elegant, anchored in your flesh. ” Loki brushed the tip of the knife blade across Jack’s shoulder and up the curve of his throat. “What say you little demon?”

Jack’s reply was more supplication then answer. The touch of the blade on his skin made him want to beg, but the spell on his tongue held him silent. He shivered, raised his chin to bare his throat, opened his arms wide and spread his wings beneath him. He moved his knees farther apart, offering his body to Loki. 

Loki smiled at his reaction. 

“Do you want the knife, Jack?”

Jack nodded his head carefully. His tongue licked across his lips.

The knife traced over his Adam’s apple, down to the notch of his collarbone, then followed the midline from chest to ribs to belly. Loki paused, the point in Jack’s navel. Sweat shined the demon’s skin and his scent was sharp with it. 

“You look willing, however, I would be sure.” Loki pulled his spell from Jack’s tongue with a nauseating wet sandpaper feel. “Say what you want little beast.” 

 

Jack swallowed to wet his dry throat and said. “Please, cut me. Mark me. Please Loki.” His plea was underlined by the uneven tone of his voice, in the shining cobalt of his tear filled eyes.  
He whined as the knife slid lower. Loki ran the point of the knife over his cock from root to tip, grinning as Jack shuddered under the threat, his abs tensing as he repressed the urge to thrust up into the stimulation. Loki traced down the underside and put the flat of the blade under Jack’s balls and lifted them. Jack was shivering, fear and lust alternating as Loki toyed with him.

“So eager. You need to pay attention. Can you focus on casting the spell while I fuck you?”

Jack nodded, swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. “Yes my lord, I’m not a novice at this. Uh, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t castrate me.”   
Though he loved the feel of steel against his scrotum. Maybe a small cut, he thought. Such an intimate pain to show the level of his trust. To show Loki’s mastery. 

Loki’s emerald eyes glittered and Jack wasn’t sure if he’d spoken his thought aloud in the soft haze induced by the fungus.

Loki laughed and pulled the blade away. “I don’t think that will be necessary, this time.” He slapped Jack’s side. “Turn over. Why are your scars only on the front?”

Jack folded his wings and rolled obediently onto his belly. “They’d be marred every time I was whipped if I had them on my back. Or else erased when I heal the damage.”

“I can make them permanent. I rather like the idea of carving my name on your ass.”

“Oh fuck!” Jack said. He looked over his shoulder. “If you don’t want me to cum before we get started, you might want to tone it down some.”

Jack’s skin was cooling and shifting to the white of fresh snow at the prospect of his being bred. That was pure instinct, spurred on by Loki’s words.

Loki grasped the base of Jack’s tail, pulling him onto his knees. Jack yipped at the rough treatment. There were way too many nerve endings on the underside of his tail for it to be used as a handle. His brain was flooded with the information of how much pressure Loki’s grasp put on his skin, the temperature of his hand verses the coolness of the air and the speed of the movement of his palm along the underside as he positioned Jack. It was not an erotic feeling, it was damned distracting. Rather like suddenly having to judge dangerous road conditions in a driving rain while semis thundered past. 

“Don’t do that!” He hissed in agitation. “It’s not a fucking rope!”

Loki laughed at his discomfort. 

“You did say to tone it down a bit, did you not? Are you sufficiently toned down now?” 

Jack’s response was an inarticulate grumble. He rested his head on his crossed arms, folded his wings neatly over his back. Toned down was not the half of it. However the vulnerability of his head down, butt up pose, restored a little of his ardor.

Loki continued. “Regardless, you won’t cum until I tell you too. You know this as well as I do, little demon.” 

Loki ran his thumb down the cleft of Jack’s butt, brushed over his anus. He circled the ball of his thumb over the rim. Jack let his temporary bad mood go, Loki’s touch felt good, warm and sweet. He moaned when Loki’s thumb became slick with oil and he pressed into Jack’s asshole opening him up.

“Oh damn, like that!” Jack pushed his rump back.

He glanced over his shoulder at Loki’s nonresponse, the god was casting a spell on himself and Jack wondered what it was. Then Loki rubbed his fingertips over Jack’s perineum. That felt way too good, not at all like it normally did. A sudden heat flashed from deep inside of him and Jack felt something give under the slight pressure. Loki’s fingers pressed harder and two slid into his body, warm and invading and disconcerting. But fuck, it felt intense.

****  
Loki ignored Jack’s desperate whimpers and eager movements. The simple spell on himself was to insure none of his seed was viable. Impregnating the demon was not his intent. Raising power was.  
Loki rubbed his fingertips over Jack’s perineum and was surprised to feel the seam swollen and soft. He stroked it and Jack moaned again. Loki felt a dip in the ridge right behind Jack’s balls. He pressed a fingertip and the dip deepened, then opened into a wet slit. Jack shuddered. 

***  
“This is new.” Loki said. His fingers stroked in deeper and Jack panted at the invasion. He tried to bring his mind to what was happening to him. 

“No. it’s from where, oh god…” Jack rocked back into the touch. “I birthed Corbin. That happened when I was pregnant. It closed up after.” 

“You have a quim.” 

That thought was disturbing on one level, but at the moment the pleasure of being stroked in that slick place was over riding his concerns.

“No! Yes. Fuck! I don’t know. Just don’t stop. It feels too good.” 

***  
To Loki the opening felt as cool as Jack’s anus but it was slick and wet, and the inner walls were ridged instead of smooth. The root of the demon’s cock was divided around the opening. It didn’t look like a cunt. There were no labia, inner or outer. But there were strong muscles that clasped Loki’s finger, and when he pushed in deeper he felt the round bump of a cervix. He pressed his finger back toward his thumb and felt the shape of Jack’s prostrate in between them. 

***  
Loki's fingers felt so good inside of him. The sensations traveled up his cock and made it twitch with every movement. When Loki pushed them in deeper they touched something that was a cross between uncomfortable and pleasurable. Before Jack could sort out the feeling, Loki moved his fingers back toward where his thumb was lodged in Jack’s ass. The spike of intense feeling as Jack’s prostrate was rubbed from both sides was way too much. He made an incoherent noise and beat his hands on the stone floor.

“GaHHH!! No! No! No! Too much! Fffuck!”

“I like that response.” Jack could hear the smirk in Loki’s voice. But the rubbing had stopped. “Do you mean to say you have never been fucked here?”

Jack panted, blinked and drew a shaky breath as the overwhelming feeling subsided. Loki went back to simply stroking and Jack rocked on his knees increasing the building pleasure. 

“No. It was just to give birth. I don’t know why it’s there… there now… I didn’t know it could feel good. Maybe the spell you cast?” 

“Hardly. That was to ensure I won’t impregnate you.”

“Mmmm!” The noise was half acknowledgement and half a result of the caress. “Oh god, I want your dick inside me!” 

“I think little demon, I will fuck you in both your ass and your quim. Would you like that?” Loki said.

“Yes! Please. Anything!” Jack begged. The fungus blunted what normally would have had him struggling in denial. The erotic sensations tipped him over into total disregard about where exactly Loki was stroking him and what exactly he was saying. He was delirious with desire.

Loki pulled his fingers out, and moved to kneel behind Jack. 

“No! Please don’t stop!” Jack cried.

*****  
Loki’s answer was to shove the warm head of his cock into the soft wet chill of the demon’s cunt. Loki half shut his eyes when he bottomed out. Jack was tight and slick and cold, his inner muscles contracting in waves. His slender thighs and narrow hips were the opposite of Thor’s warm and generous body. Loki grinned at the thought of fucking them side by side. Opulent summer and famished winter laid out for his pleasure. It would be worth talking his brother into such a decadent coupling.

***  
Jack whined as Loki’s cock slid deeper. The stroke was smooth, partially because he was dripping wet. There had been no sensation of pain at all, but considering he’d pushed a baby out the last time he’d had a .. (Jack’s mind skipped around the words and settled on opening,) an opening there, maybe that was to be expected. Jack felt Loki bottom out and there was again that feeling of discomfort mixed with the pleasure of having Loki’s cock filling him. Jack could feel his cock warm, thrusting, stroking. Could feel the bump of his balls against Jack's and the slap of his hips on his ass. He could feel the strange sensation of his cold slick run from his… (he tried Loki’s word...) his quim, to wet the back of his balls.

***  
Loki gripped Jack’s hips, rocked back and rammed hard into the demon’s cunt, lifting him off his knees. He pulled back and snapped his hips forward again. Jack made soft low cries of pleasure as Loki drove in. His hands clenched the rug and he attempted to meet the thrusts, but Loki’s hold on his hips controlled his movements. He whined in frustration and tried to rock into Loki’s rhythm. A hard slap on his butt got his attention.

“No, little demon.” Loki said panting. “You are mine. You take it. You have no say, no freedom here. I use you as I wish. Do you understand me?”

Jack shivered and stilled his movements at Loki’s words. “Yes Loki.” He went passive under his owner’s hand, though the trembling didn’t stop as he submitted. 

Loki grinned at how the demon willingly mastered his own passionate response at Loki’s command. His control over Jack was intoxicating. He wanted to see how far he could push him.

“Stroke yourself but don’t cum. I want you hard and as close as you can get without spilling.” Loki said. “Can you do that, Jack?”

***  
“Uh huh, I can. For you.” Jack said and grasped his cock, sliding his hand down the length to squeeze the base. 

He’d edged before, though it was never something he liked. But now? The need to please Loki overrode everything else. He pumped his throbbing shaft slowly. He shivered at the effort to keep from humping either his own hand, or the way Loki’s cock was thrusting into him. Being fucked this way was different from taking Loki’s cock in his ass. The sensations were new, and if he thought about it troubling. But he was almost incapable of thought. It was intense and frustrating and too much stimulation.

He was shoved back and forth on the rug as Loki fucked him. The powerful strokes sent wave after wave of heat through his chilled body. He was whimpering as he obeyed Loki’s orders. It was overwhelming to be taken this way and because Loki held his Aesir form, his cock was almost painfully hot inside Jack’s quim. Every sliding grasp on his cock made him clench around Loki, every touch brought him closer to the peak he was denied. Loki rocked his cock in quicker and Jack’s whimpers turned to cursing and begging for release.

***  
“No!” Loki snarled as he fucked Jack harder, every stroke buried to his balls. “Stroke yourself faster Jack, I want you right on the edge.”

Loki was high on controlling Jack, the demon’s frustrated constrained motions increased his pleasure. Why bother tying the little beast up when he’d do it himself, with Loki’s words alone? He could feel the tight grasp of his cunt, as Jack worked his cock. The demon went wordless, muffled gasps his only sound as he held himself back from orgasm. Loki enjoyed the tortured look on Jack’s face, the half sobbing sounds he made and the way his cunt was milking Loki’s cock. 

“Perfect.” Loki breathed and fucked Jack’s quim with deep quick thrusts. His balls pulled up and the throb began deep in his groin. He tightened his hands with bruising force and ground into Jack’s cunt. The demons inner walls spasmed, clenching in response. The pulse of release cascaded through Loki. His head fell back and he moaned aloud as the pressure broke and pleasure raced through him in shuddering waves. He seed poured hot and thick into Jack’s tight wet cunt. 

***  
Jack cried out as Loki filled him. The hot spill of Loki’s spend inside made Jack set his teeth through his lip to keep from cumming himself. The way Loki's cock jerked as it emptied was too much, the heat was too much and Jack was shaking trying to hold back. He groaned in frustration and his hand slowed.

“Please, Loki!” Jack begged, his hand slowing on his own cock. “Let me cum, I’m so close.”  
***

“No, not yet.” Loki panted, resting against Jack’s upturned ass. Letting the aftershocks empty every drop from his cock. He shut his eyes as he caught his breath. Jack's back was as cold as a snowbank, pulling the heat from his chest and belly. His breathing slowed and he became aware of the man panting beneath him, cold and holding still as a frozen river. 

Loki raised his head from Jack’s shoulder, and realized what was wrong. He pulled back and his softening cock slipped from Jack’s wet slit. The demon was breathing hard, his head down. His hand not moving. 

“Jack.” Loki said softly. “I didn’t tell you to stop.” 

Jack turned to look at him, desperation in his eyes. 

At the negative headshake Jack began stroking himself again. He whimpered. “Please?”

“Please me little beast.” Loki said. He picked up the knife. “Keep playing with yourself, no cumming, no stopping.” 

He patted Jack’s butt cheek and smiled. “If you’re good, maybe I’ll let you cum after I fuck your ass.”

Jack licked Loki’s hand with a wet cool tongue. 

“Thank you.” Jack said and his eyes shone with unshed tears. 

Loki tugged Jack’s collar and let it go. He smiled as he mapped out the designs he would etch into the demon's hide. He didn’t enjoy being cruel, for its own sake. But it was impossible not to enjoy the pleasure the fucked up little beast took in being sexually tormented. He really was a satisfying diversion. Maybe even worth the trouble of keeping him. Loki pushed one wing aside and pressed the tip of the blade into Jack’s shoulder. 

***  
Jack almost sobbed as the knife sliced across his left shoulder, over stimulated, his quim filled with the almost painful heat of Loki’s sperm. Loki’s magic coiled in the wake of the blade, setting the foundation for the shield. He focused on the spell and away from the ache in his balls and cock. The magic coiled icy and he let it flow into the wound locking into the small design. His other wing was moved and the knife cut a mirror design onto his right shoulder. Again Loki’s magic set the mark into the fabric of his skin and Jack traced the design with his own power. His hand had slowed and Loki noticed.

“Don’t stop thrall.” 

Jack whined and picked up the pace, trying to apply pressure in a way that didn’t feel good. Holding the spell in his mind and keeping himself on the edge of orgasm was blindingly difficult and pain started to pulse behind his eyes. Loki moved behind him and the blade cut two parallel marks at the small of his back, on either side of his spine. Jack could feel the wet of his blood pooling on his skin. Loki’s seidr seemed to slither into the wounds and up his vertebrae. It was wrong and an obscene invasion and Jack wanted to twist away to turn and bite Loki, driving his fangs into the god’s throat. 

The fact that he had fangs sobered Jack. He was more than halfway shifted to ice demon form. He fought the change back, focused on the way Loki’s magic spread out over his body. He followed the pathways Loki had established. Loki pulled his seidr back as Jack’s power took its place. The shield became whole with the ease of two hands clasping. Jack blinked. It had used so little power to create, but it was complete and strong. Stronger then he would have been able to do on his own.

“Thank you.” He panted.

“Better, hmm?” Loki said.

He grasped Jack’s hips and lined up behind him. He stroked a finger over Jack’s anus. He called oil to his fingertip and pushed it into Jack’s tight puckered hole. Loki watched the wet opening to Jack’s cunt tighten and close, the edges sealing as he stroked an oiled finger into the dryer entrance. The furled muscle relaxed and opened under his caress. 

***  
Jack’s thighs were trembling. Loki’s finger spread a warm slickness into his asshole. He bucked when Loki shoved the head of his cock in beside his finger. It was too big, too fast and it hurt. A hard slap on his butt and Jack froze again. Loki withdrew the finger and worked his cock deeper into the smooth tightness of Jack’s ass. Jack shut his eyes, trying to keep from spilling into his hand as Loki’s thick cock stretched him open. Filled him full again. It felt different from before, but no less intense. The first rough thrust meant his ring was sore and Loki’s fucking did nothing to ease that. Pain spiked with every drag and plunge and Jack cried out at the sweetness of it.

***  
Loki enjoyed how Jack's ass felt, the muscular ring squeezing his cock before giving way to a softer grasp inside. The demon was making little yipping sounds as he was fucked. His thighs quivering from the strain of holding still as Loki plunged his cock in a slow steady beat. Loki leaned back slightly and grabbed Jack’s hips with both hands. He had perfect control of the smaller man this way. He rammed in fast and hard and deep. Jack’s anus clenched in spasms and he howled, whether in pain or pleasure, Loki didn’t know. With Jack it could be both. The demon lost all control and pushed his butt back into Loki’s hips. His cries turned to deep guttural moaning then an almost silent gasping for air as he rocked into Loki’s thrusts. 

***  
Jack fell into the overwhelming sensation when Loki held him and pounded into his ass with brutal punishing thrusts. He could no longer tell the difference from the tearing hurt and the heated pleasure. He heard his own voice incoherent, and it seemed distanced from him. All that mattered was the way the air sparkled and flashed as though it was filled with diamonds. Diamonds that burned as he inhaled, cutting him to shreds. Filling him with fire and ice and power that scintillated in sapphire and emerald and icy white. He could see Loki behind him glowing like the stars. His starlight filling Jack's belly with every rock of his hips. They were moving together, dancing in slow motion like the rhythm of the ocean's waves, the pulse of distant suns. The diamond light clustered on the new marks, burning bright as the midday sun. Jack was caught in the web of fire, between being and spirit. 

***  
Loki forgave him his passion and thrust into Jack’s rhythmic rocking.

“Cum Jack.” Loki said, granting the little monster his reward.

***  
Jack was pulled back into his skin at Loki’s words. He cried out and rutted into his hand faster, building to the release he’d been denied. Loki’s driving prick sent hot sparks of pleasure from his ass, up the length of his throbbing cock. His aching balls were pulled up against his groin. Jack grunted as he came, the first freezing pulse spattering against his chest, the second and third hitting the floor. His cock spurted till it jerked empty, in time to Loki’s powerful thrusts. 

Jack wanted to collapse, he was gasping for breath, shaking with the release and the fatigue from limbs held too long in place. His vision was doubled, the sparkling lines of power laid over his view of the cave.   
Loki was unrelenting, chasing his own pleasure, and Jack had to try to keep his trembling knees under him. His god was using him and he adored it. He loved how the cold sweat ran into his eyes and how his back twinged with pain and the burn of his knees as they scraped on the wool rug. He felt weak and worn out and owned.

“Loki, my god. Use me. Fuck me. Use me up. Please don’t stop, never stop.” Jack begged breathless.

“Never?’ Loki panted. “Shall I break your bones with my passion, shred your skin, tear muscle and tendon from your limbs, and eviscerate you from the inside?”

His rhythm stuttered and he ground against Jack’s butt with bruising force. Pulled half out and then slammed in deep, lifting Jack off his knees and shoving him off the rug, his weight transferred to his chest and bent forearms. 

“Yes! Do it! Rip me apart.” Jack yowled. His back claws snagged in the rug as he tried to rock his ass back into Loki's brutal fucking.

Loki’s hands clenched on his hips and Jack cried out at the bruising pressure. Pain lanced up his spine and across his pelvis, but Loki was shuddering and gasping. Jack could feel the heat of his seed burning in his ass. It was pain and pleasure and utter submission to his god and Jack was lost in it. Loki held him too tightly, fingers digging into his skin and muscle and his cock pumping hot into Jack's guts. Jack cried out again. He bucked and struggled and shuddered in a dark ecstasy when Loki’s strength held him pinned, as the last drops spilled inside. 

His knees skidded out from under him when Loki collapsed over his back. They lay together panting and sweaty. Jack was spent, his eyes closed as he started to fall into a cross between sleep and passing out. Bright lines of fire wavered behind his eyelids. Loki’s weight was too heavy to be comfortable, but Jack was beyond caring. Loki rolled off to lay on his back as he caught his breath. He patted Jack’s butt absentmindedly. 

“Nuugh.” Jack said. 

Loki chuckled. “I think I found a way to silence your tongue.”

Jack grinned. If Loki wanted to fuck him unconscious to keep him quiet, that was fine by him. He knew he should get up, get cleaned up, maybe stop drooling. “Um hm.” he managed. 

There were sounds, sounds of Loki moving. The splash of water. Loki’s voice. Jack drifted in a warm happy haze. Finally a foot, no, it was a boot, prodded him in the side. When he didn’t respond the boot applied more pressure and Jack was turned over onto his back. He grinned up at Loki. 

“You are a mess. Clean yourself up. Then you can make dinner.”

“Uh huh.”

“Now, Jack.”

“O.K.” That was a good idea. Getting cleaned up. Jack felt sticky and sore and his hair was wet with drool and plastered to the side of his face. The stone floor was hard on his back where he’d been fucked off the rug. He wondered what Loki had in the cave for supper. Was there a stove of some kind hidden away? Was he supposed to go out and hunt for something? What lived in caves? Bats, his mind provided, and cavemen. 

“Get up!” Loki’s raised voice snapped Jack out of his daze.

“I’m not eating Neanderthals!” He yelled as he sat up. 

He blinked at a mystified Loki. Jack decided to not try to explain and used his wings to lever himself to his feet. He wove on shaky legs with the occasional wing assist across the room, moving like a drunken bat. He braced himself against the wall by the water filled basin and picked up the washcloth.

“Do you lose your mind every time you have sex?” Loki asked as Jack washed himself. 

The water in the basin was still icy from when he’d fetched it earlier. It felt good on the raw places. There were several. He glanced over at Loki who was lounging on the chair, one ankle over his knee, fully dressed and not a hair out of place. You utter bastard, Jack thought. You could at least have the decency to look like you’d exerted yourself.

“That wasn’t sex.” Jack stated. “That was so far beyond sex it needs a new fucking name. I’m pretty sure the constellations realigned at one point.”

Loki laughed. “It was pleasant enough as such things go. How are you now set for magic?”

Jack extended one hand and light bloomed in his palm. It sparkled and shifted from deep emerald to brilliant sapphire to the purest blaze of white.

“I’m good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah just an excuse to have then fuck each other silly. Or have Loki fuck Jack silly. Poor boy will have to deal with the fact that unwanted and hidden as it normally is, he's got a cunt.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mechanics of magic, and things go somewhat fubar. A visitor returns. Warning of depressive and somewhat suicidal thoughts.

When Jack awoke, Loki was laying half over him, long legs tangled with his. Jack folded his wings back and climbed out of bed. By the light of the single lantern he washed and dressed and then set about gathering enough of the preserved foods to put together breakfast.

He and Loki had been indulging in power raising exercises for several hours until Jack could do no more. He’d passed out during their last session and Loki had apparently let him sleep. While it was nice to be useful to his owner, Jack wished that the marathon sexual gymnastics had been for their own sake, rather than simply a way to turn him into a magical backup battery. 

Loki was a sorcerer of incredible skill, one of the few able to tap into the raw power of the universe. This ability would seem to give him an unlimited amount of magic, however as Jack well knew, it required power to manipulate power. Loki's seidr was how he harnessed the roiling magic into a usable form. Only an Elder, like the Grandmaster, who was directly linked into the universe’s power, was able to draw on it at will, without cost. But Loki was no Elder, and Jack had seen that there was something seriously wrong with his seidr. It was unstable. His control ebbed and flared so that Loki was incapable of properly handling the immense force. Either he was in constant danger of being overwhelmed by the wild energy or he played it safe and relied solely on his own limited resources.

Jack, while he couldn’t access the universe’s power, could give Loki a reliable source of tame magic to augment his seidr. Loki had been building defensive and offensive spells as fast as he could drain magic from Jack. While Jack being half incubus, could draw power from sex, he was limited by his own physical capacity. Which meant that it was inevitable, even when his participation was passive and amounted to Loki fucking him into the mattress, that he ran out of stamina and fell asleep. 

Squirreled away in the cupboards Jack found various cans and a half a box of MREs. Breakfast was dehydrated eggs, fried spam and pancakes made from some dubious instant mix. A lump of crystallized honey was reheated over the potable propane stove to a liquid state and poured on the pancakes. Loki was not impressed at the offerings and picked at his food. Jack on the other hand, felt like he was starving after the previous day’s work and wolfed it down, finishing Loki’s unwanted portions. There was no coffee, only some of Loki’s damn herbal tea and Jack was in caffeine withdrawal by the time he finished eating.

Which was why his attitude was more than a little pissy. It didn’t help that Jack couldn’t forget coming off the euphoric yesterday, while Loki was balls deep in a cunt Jack didn’t want to admit he had. He’d bitten his lower lip to keep from bucking Loki off. He hadn’t said anything at the time, and didn’t want to talk about it now, but the fact that Loki seemed oblivious to his discomfort rankled. Loki’s obvious dislike of a meal that Jack had done his best to make palatable, only added to his irritation.

He banged the metal pans and plates together with unnecessary violence as he scrubbed them, muttering under his breath about ungrateful gods.

Loki, who had cleared the center of the cavern that served as a room, was busy drawing sigils and runes on the floor. He frowned at Jack as he worked, cut him a cautionary glance and finally sat back on his heels, threw his hair back with a head toss and said;

“Is there a reason for this childish display of temper, or is it simply inevitable that you will misbehave every twenty four hours in an effort to gain my attention?”

“No! Everything is just fucking great, and I don’t want your fucking attention! Don’t let me disturb you from whatever the fuck you are doing.”

Loki stood up smoothly, his face expressionless and walked over to Jack with an easy grace that caused Jack to inadvertently shift form to ice demon. His subconscious knew a dangerous situation, even if it took time for his conscious mind to catch on. Jack flattened against the counter and lowered both his quills and his eyes, as he realized he’d gone too far, again. 

“Jack, I do not have the time for your games. Doctor Strange is not a fool. If we are to be prepared for his arrival I must work without interruption.” Loki’s fingers dug into his long jaw, tilting Jack’s head up to meet his angry gaze. 

“Do you understand?”

“Yesss.” Jack answered and hated the lisping accent that accompanied a mouth full of fangs and a too long tongue. His wings twitched and his tail flicked, signs of his irritation that Loki could plainly read.

“Your behavior is unacceptable. I am not surprised your husband divorced you. I am surprised he didn’t have you drowned.”

Jack froze. Loki’s harsh words stabbed him deeper than any knife. The room went white around him and his ears were filled with a buzzing static. 

Finlos, his beloved. His huge and kind and unbelievably forgiving ex husband. The moment he’d presented Jack with the divorce papers was seared into his memory.

“I’m sorry Jack, but I can no longer live with your constant arguing. If I do not know what you want, I cannot give it to you. (I want to be worthy of you, my love.) Maybe in time...”

And that was the promise. If Jack could get his shit together, get over the anger and discontent that boiled under his skin like a fever, they would remarry. They still loved each other. Finlos was a good man, had raised Corbin to be a good person. And Jack had failed him. His body failed to give him the children they both wanted. He had failed to be the person Finlos believed him to be. No matter how much he loved Finlos he’d fucked it up. In time, maybe he could fix what was wrong with himself. But time was stolen away with the return of the Grandmaster.

Jack had panicked. Terrified of what the Grandmaster would do to Corbin, would do to Finlos if he found Loki’s child there, he had fled taking Corbin with him.. But now jack thought of what would have happened if he was dead. With him dead, Finlos would have claimed Corbin as his own child. Finlos had managed the Grandmaster for five hundred years, he’d easily be able to handle his return. Corbin would have no trouble guarding his own tongue. It was Jack’s big mouth and his stupid pride and his incessant inability to leave things alone that would have put them in danger. He was the egotistical fool who started Loki’s church with himself as head priest. He’d written the story of Loki tricking and overthrowing the Grandmaster, in order to pull in worshipers. 

Even after they came to earth as refugees, Jack caused trouble. He’d triggered Loki’s outburst that had almost got himself killed, and set Loki back an unknown amount in his recovery. He was the prying idiot who’d tapped into the artifact in Stark’s tower and started the entire mess they now found themselves in. Putting Loki in danger now as he’d put Corbin and Finlos and countless others in danger. Death was his only legacy. Not glorious or meaningful deaths, but petty murders caused by his own fear. Thor was a better mentor for Corbin. Loki, as much of a bastard as he was, would be a more stable parent. The world was better off without him in it. Jack knew it to his core and also knew he was too much of a coward to ever take his own life. Guilt and grief and despair threatened to break through the shell of anger and lust he’d constructed to protect himself from his own inner thoughts.

“I wish he had.” Jack thought. “I wish he had drowned me.” 

“I need sssome fffucking coffee.” is what he said aloud. 

Oily tears rolled down his ice cold cheeks and splattered on the frost etched floor. 

Loki stared at his thrall in exasperation. He could feel the muscles between his shoulders knotting. The demon obviously was not crying about a lack of coffee. Loki regretted his hasty words. He had spoken from frustration and they had struck deeper than he intended. He rubbed the space between his eyes as he considered whether he could now spare the time to sort out his beast’s problems.

The decision was made for him as the first golden sparks of Strange’s transportation spell manifested in the center of his rune work. 

“Shit!” Loki said.

He grabbed the startled demon, dragged him across the room, drew a dagger and slashed Jack’s palm open. Loki held Jack’s gushing hand over the design. His pale blood splashed down and was sucked into the patterns drawn across the floor, bringing them to glowing life. When a disheveled Strange stepped into the cave, Loki gathered the lines into his hand and the runes interlinked into a network of power, trapping the human sorcerer inside.

“Ah Doctor.” Loki said. “I know it was only a matter of time until you succeeded in tracking us down. Pardon the lack of hospitality, but as Jack has informed me, we are out of coffee.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, unlike Jack, know that suicide is not brave, but an act of desperation, and choosing to live is not cowardly, but an act of hope and is quite brave.  
> A short chapter and mostly introspective.  
> I try to make magic logical in this world, with upper limits on nearly every one, Elders being the exception.  
> Loki's comment hit a nerve, as Jack is still deeply in love with his ex husband and misses him.  
> Jack's anxiety has come out full force and that makes him libel to do anything, passive aggressive behavior being his preferred method of attack. He has a ton of unresolved issues and unless they are dealt with soon, things are only going to go down hill faster.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki and strange coming to terms. Jack has a minor crisis

Jack yelped holding his bleeding hand to his chest. He bared his fangs at Loki.

“Ffffuck! That hurtsss!” he hissed. “Why did you cut my hand?”

“If you had not attempted to pull away, it would have been a simple cut on your wrist.” Loki answered.

“You were trying to ssslit my wrist? What the fffuck?”

“Loki,” Doctor Strange said, watching Jack warily. “As much as I’d like to hear more of this fascinating conversation, I am being closely pursued and they will arrive at any moment.”

“I doubt that, Doctor. The pathway you entered no longer leads here. It now opens farther to the east. I believe your pursuers are occupied at present attempting to close the portal they have inadvertently opened a hundred feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.” 

Loki grinned mischievously.

Strange’s nostrils flared, his chin lifted and he stared down his nose like a startled horse. 

“By the laws of magic, that is not possible. A portal opens between the mage and the destination pictured within their mind. To redirect it you would have to overpower their thoughts.” 

“That is one way of doing it.” Loki said casually. “Another is to mask the destination with illusion, so that they grasp for the dream and wake to the reality. Or one can pull the threads of their portal as it is being cast and reweave it to the place of one’s own choosing. Or mirror it back at them so they become caught, forever leaving and returning to the same place, though that can get a bit messy. Or redirect the spell to a pocket dimension of one’s own making that resembles the mage’s desired destination. To name a few.”

“Which of those did you use?”

“None. I crafted a spell which led you here and anyone else to a myriad of other problematic destinations. You were looking not for a specific place, but for the place I occupied. Replicating myself was the very first illusion I learned, Doctor. I’ve had close to a thousand years to perfect it.” 

“Yet I was able to trap you easily.”

“Only because you took me unaware. You would not have held me for long. I was under the impression your people had succeeded in their efforts to eradicate any with talent from the human blood line. You were quite enthusiastic in your efforts during the past five or six hundred years.”

“If you continue to conflate all humans and human behavior, your information will not be accurate.” 

“Pardon me Doctor, if I do not pay close attention to the particulars of your species’ atrocities.”

Strange’s hands made complicated gestures as he tested the strength of Loki’s spell. “Is that the same demon?”

“Yes he is. It is not as though I collect them.” 

Jack’s whispered curses drew Loki’s notice. Loki added, “Heal it and be done, Jack.” 

“I tried, it hurtsss too much.” Jack said. He raised his bleeding hand and instinctively licked his long tongue toward the cut.

Loki grasped his collar and jerked Jack’s head back.

“Don’t lick it, you idiot. Embedding the remains of your breakfast in the wound will not help.” 

Loki took Jack’s hand in his, and his seidr glowed around the damage, knitting together nerves and tendons and blood vessels, and lastly pulling the ivory skin together to form a pale pink seam. 

Strange watched intently. Jack saw him looking and bared his fangs, growling deeply. 

“You can heal as well?”

“It depends. Jack is easy to heal, especially such a minor wound. His body readily shifts from one form to another. His morphic field has a strong memory for each shape, and temporary damage is not encoded in that memory. Non-shapeshifters are more difficult and humans almost impossible. Your morphic field is weak and retains little to no memory of its proper state. Thus you damage too easily and your bodies age swiftly as your pattern degrades.”

“Pattern degradation? Are you talking about cell senescence, telomere shortening and DNA damage?”

Strange’s hands glowed faintly as he paced the center of the runes.

“On a purely physical level, I suppose that is close enough. But come Doctor, you did not hunt me down to discuss the philosophy of healing nor the esoterica of magic. Your attempts to distract me while you try to undo the containment spell are futile.” 

Loki drew up a chair and took his seat facing Strange. He motioned Jack to his feet. Jack glared at Strange as he folded up his thin limbs and sat on the floor beside his master. He rested his chin on Loki’s knee and kept his gaze locked on the other sorcerer. Loki reached his hand down and scratched Jack’s scalp between the ebony quills as though he were petting a dog. Jack gave a long sigh and his lids dropped, half covering his glowing blue eyes. Strange couldn’t help but notice that the frost that formed around the demon didn’t seem to bother Loki. 

“So, what have you and your colleagues been up to?” Loki asked.

Strange related a tale of apprentices seduced and masters left drained of power. A battle for control of the Sanctuary in New York. A temporary victory were Doctor Strange fled with the Heart and Wong with the Mind to find a way to contain their power.

Loki listened quietly and at one point Jack buried his face in his arms. Strange noticed as he spoke how the demon shifted slowly into demi demon form under Loki’s hand. The wings changing from white to black, as short fine fur covered them, the hide warming to pale pink skin, the quills receding into skull and spine and tail tip. His limbs and neck shortening and filling out to human proportions. Claws thinning and shortening and then retracting. The beast was making a soft snuffling sound which Loki was ignoring.

“Why not return it from whence it came?” Loki asked. “That would seem a simpler way to end the difficulty rather than attempting to contain it.”

“Rebury it in the city of the dead? They would find it in an instant.” Strange said.

“No, Doctor from where it originated. Return it from where it was first stolen, the dark dimension you humans like to dabble in.”

“You would have me turn an item of power over to the evil things that live there?” Strange again drew his magic to his hands sending golden sparks skittering along the lines of Loki’s spell, seeking to disperse its power. 

“It was theirs to begin with.” Loki pointed out. He smirked when his spell absorbed the sparks without result. “Or destroy it and the problem is solved.”

“Destroying an item of power is a last resort. And we don’t know how it will affect those under its influence. There have already been casualties in this war and I would not lose more people. I came expecting you to help.”

Loki yawned. “It matters little to me either way. It is as I said earlier, this is a human problem. If your foolish mages didn’t delve into areas that true sorcerers know to avoid, you wouldn’t be in this situation. It is only the brevity of your lives that have allowed most of you to escape the consequences of your thievery. Why should it concern me if a few mortals end their days slightly sooner than they would otherwise?”

“Loki,” Jack lifted his head. His face was streaked with tears and his voice was thick with emotion. “Please help him. No one else should come to harm because of me."

“Because of you?” Loki looked down at him in puzzlement.

“I’m the one who awakened it in the first place in Stark’s tower, I’m the one who found the second piece. If I’d just left things alone, none of this would have happened.”

“Jack stop dramatizing yourself.” Loki said.

“NO! Jack yelled. “You listen to me for once. You keep cutting me off. I’m good enough when you need a power source, good enough when you want a hole to stick…”

“That is enough!” Loki grabbed Jack’s hair and jerked his head back as he stood up. “I have more important things to deal with than your self indulgent breast beating.” 

“Then kill me!” Jack snarled, pulling free and leaving a handfull of bloodied hair in Loki’s grasp. “It’d be better for everyone if I was dead. You know it! I know it! Your fucking brother knows it! Even this asshole knows it.” Jack swept his hand toward Strange. “You were right. I wish Finlos had drowned me. At least that way I wouldn’t keep fucking everything up. I wouldn’t keep putting people I care about in danger. No one would get hurt because of me.” 

Jack stood facing Loki, his chest heaving, his tail lashing and his hands tightly clenched in fists. Tears ran down his face and snot dribbled from his nose. There was nothing pretty about his red faced anger or the harsh drawn breaths of his grief.

“You wish to die?” Loki asked him quietly. His face was unreadable, all emotion locked behind the blank expression.

“NO! I don’t want to die. I want to stop fucking up. But I can’t and I’m sick of it. I'm sick of being angry and stupid and hurting, and hurting other people.” He wiped his running nose on the back of his arm and looked at Loki with pleading eyes. “I just want to be good. I don’t know how. Don’t let me mess up Corbin. Don’t let me cause people to die. Please, I can’t… I don’t know what to do... I’m too scared to kill myself.”

Strange looked on, a closed expression on his face.

Loki shook his head. “I’m not going to kill you, little beast.” He pointed toward the bucket and basin. “Go wash your face and calm down. You are not responsible for any of this. If you had not been drawn into the influence of the artifact, someone else would have. It was already activated to attract the attention of those insect creatures from the dark dimension. You are not that important in the workings of the world, Jack. Nor will you damage Corbin. They have been living with you for their entire life and are perfectly fine.” 

When Jack walked away, Loki turned to Strange. “I will help you, but only because I don’t want to hear Thor complaining about it if I don’t.” He glanced over at where Jack was washing his face with shaking hands. “This will take a few minutes, I advise you don’t waste your power further.” Loki waved his hand and an obscuring fog gathered between the runes, thickening into a muffling dark wall. 

Loki went to the shaking demon, turned him around and pulled him close. Jack clung to him. 

“Tell me.” Loki commanded.

“I, I miss him so much.” Jack sobbed. 

“Your ex-husband?” Loki said.

“Uh huh. It’s like he died, but somehow it’s almost worse, because I know he’s alive and I’ll never see him again.”

“I’m sorry little demon.” Loki rubbed his back while Jack’s crying slowed. “You made the right choice. The Grandmaster would never have let Corbin go unmolested. They have too much magic in their blood. It matters not whose child they are.”

“I didn’t mean to lose it like that.” Jack said after a few minutes of silence. “I just feel like I can’t do anything right sometimes. And hearing all that trouble that the artifact caused… I still feel responsible. I’m not like you, Loki. I killed people and the guilt doesn’t just go away. It doesn’t matter that I’m not human, I feel human." Jack took a deep breath. "Are you really going to help Doctor Strange?”

Loki sighed. “Yes, but only because of Thor’s arrangement with the Avengers. Not because of your tantrum. I will not be manipulated by sentiment.” Loki kissed Jack on the top of his head and released him. “Clean this up. Go fetch fresh water and do not get lost this time.” 

Jack nodded. He emptied the basin, cleaned it out and picked up the bucket and a lantern. He walked past the rune cage, whose walls were transparent again. Doctor Strange was hovering in the air in a cross legged meditation position. Loki was sitting in the chair.

“This is how we will proceed, Doctor.” Jack heard as he walked down the tunnel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Loki will help Strange, but he doesn't trust him at all. Loki understood just how much he's been shutting Jack down lately and how weak Jack's grip on keeping things together is.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is a freaking mess. Loki and Strange converse.

This was not a good thing, Jack thought as he filled the bucket. Though he wanted Loki to help undo the damage caused by the damn artifact, had in fact begged him to, he did not trust his motives. Strange was an unmitigated asshole and Loki wasn’t much better, no matter how much Jack liked him. (Admired him? Worshiped him?) Loki was up to something and Jack didn’t know what. He was fairly certain that Loki would have never have joined with Strange on his ‘save the magicians from the evil relic endeavor’ simply to placate Thor. Definitely not for the sake of Jack’s over active conscience.

As far as he could tell, Loki thought the less human sorcerers the better. He considered them insanely reckless. Strange himself, though he’d been appointed the rank of Sorcerer Supreme by his colleagues was just as irresponsible. Even Jack, with his small amount of magical knowledge, was stunned that the mage had used an infinity stone like a serial restarter in an rpg, rewriting reality itself without thought of the ultimate consequences as the changes rippled across space-time. Jack was sure that Loki knew the mortal mages were a threat because he himself wielded power they would be envious of, though he used his in far subtler spells then their flashy teleporting. 

Jack carried the filled water bucket back to the cave, wondering if Loki really needed it or if it was simply an excuse to get him out of the way while the two sorcerers discussed strategy. That was another thing that irritated Jack. Loki’s tendency to treat him as a child when he had serious work to do. Jack was fine for a sex toy or a living battery, but not for things Loki considered important. It was hard not to feel like a total fuck up when Loki kept cutting him out. Jack sighed. He didn’t know how to get Loki to take him seriously. It didn’t help that his own instincts keep urging him to submit to whatever Loki wanted. Thinking about it, Jack knew his behavior wasn’t apt to inspire confidence in anyone, much less his skittish god. 

That was another thing. He’d built a religion around the trickster on Sakaar. Been the damned high priest for fucks sake and here? Here was reduced toting water and chopping wood and cleaning up after Loki like a damn servant. He’d wanted to serve his god, but the idea was more spread his commands to the masses, not scrape the damn mud off his boots. Now licking the mud off his boots… 

Jack swore at himself. You’re such a pathetic fuck, no wonder he doesn’t respect you. It was hard to try to maintain any dignity at all when his mind kept pulling that kind of crap out of his libido. Anger at himself coiled like a rattlesnake in his belly. He pushed aside the curtain, stomped across the room and slammed the water on the counter. It was only luck that most of the water that slopped up the side of the bucket landed back inside. Loki shot him an irritated glance and Jack dropped his eyes, immediately contrite. He grabbed a towel and cleaned up the spill. Why couldn’t he get his shit together for one goddamned minute?

Loki snapped his fingers and pointed to the floor at his side. Jack hung up the towel, slunk across the room and knelt, head down. There was a metallic click as Loki snapped his leash in place. Jack felt something inside him relax and he took a deep breath. A tap under his chin caused him to raise his head. Loki held a muzzle in one hand and Jack could see the runes written on the leather. He met Loki’s eyes and leaned into the muzzle as it was fastened around his face. He could feel the magic damping down his own power. He gave a small sound of pleasure. Something about losing his power of speech slowed down the racing self-incriminating thoughts.

“I can’t believe it allowed that of its own free will.” Strange said, seated on empty air. “But you understand it’s a necessity. My allies would never trust the presence of an unbound demon.”

“He.” Loki corrected. “He allowed it, because he trusts me.”

Jack nodded and rubbed his head against Loki’s knee. He was rewarded with a head scratch. Whatever Loki told Strange, all Jack could tell the muzzle did was keep him quiet and give Loki easier access to Jack’s magic, without Jack having to maintain a link. If it did anything else he didn’t care. Loki had control of him and that, thank his god, was all Jack needed to settle down. He listened to the resumed conversation.

“I believe we have talked this subject in circles enough. If you wish my help then you need to hand over, what Jack so colorfully refers to as the heart.” Loki said. “The Heart of Serapis if one were to be precise.”

“You know that I can’t do that. It is a relic of immense power and you, to be blunt don’t have the best track record with such things.” 

Dr. Strange leaned back as if in a chair, propped his arm on the nonexistent armrest and rested his chin in his hand. 

'He’s an insufferable show off.' Jack thought. He had a sudden vision of Loki suspending the mage naked on the wall where Jack had spent part of the evening. Jack grinned behind the muzzle. Loki quirked a corner of his mouth in the briefest of smiles and continued petting Jack on the head.

“Then I do not know why you are wasting my time. If I am not allowed to thoroughly examine it then it would be foolhardy for me to recommend any course of action.” Loki tilted his head. “It is not as if I have any use for it. I could have easily retrieved its mate and never informed you. Instead I let you pull it from the sand and entrusted you with containing the problem. Far from completing such a simple task your organization has, to put it bluntly, Doctor, collapsed under the duel pressures of incompetence and greed.”

“We were dealing with a total unknown in the case of the relic. You cannot find fault with what happened because we had no knowledge of the thing.”

“Oh but I can. It is your kind’s ceaseless meddling in the unknown that caused this situation.” Loki’s fingers combed through Jack’s hair and divided it into sections. “You have heard my requirements for assisting you. Either accede to them or remove yourself from my presence.” His fingers deftly wove the sections into plaits. “I have better things to do with my time then argue with you all morning.”

“Like play with your pet?”

“Precisely.”

“Would Thor consider your reluctance to assist in alleviating a worldwide crisis in accordance with our agreement?”

“Thor understands in matters of magic, I am the authority. He would not second guess my decision nor would he think the demise of a few self-important mortal magicians a worldwide crisis.” Loki tugged Jack’s hair too hard for comfort as he braided. “Do you not realize, that should I wish the relic I have only to wait while you destroy each other over it and then take the pieces from the last survivor? You speak of its power, yet so far that seems to be limited to influencing one foolish demon and ensnaring a bunch of weak willed mortals. Tell me Doctor, what power has the thing bestowed on any of its wielders?”

“I am still researching that aspect. Not surprisingly, there is little information on an artifact buried for over seventeen hundred years.” Strange half shrugged.

“I would venture to say you will find no evidence of its power if it is what I believe it to be. Tell me, have you determined what the precipitating event was that brought it to the attention of the dark dimension creatures?”

Loki paused in his braiding, conjured two ribbons as casually as taking them from his pocket and held them in front of Jack.

“Pick.” 

Jack touched the silver. The blue disappeared and Loki threaded the silver ribbon into the braid. A crease formed between Dr. Strange’s eyes. Jack chuckled softly at Loki’s taunting of Strange. He liked the implication that Loki doing his hair was more important to his god than dealing with the relic.

“A graduate student was doing his thesis on the Greco Roman mystery cults and recognized some of the engravings. The museum let him photograph the relic in a recreated first century altar. What happened after that is uncertain, he livestreamed himself reenacting part of a ritual but the feed cut off. He hasn’t been seen since.”

“See beast, not your fault.” Loki said as he tied off the ribbon, and pulled the braid to fall over the back strap of the muzzle.

He raised his head to meet the other mage's eyes and extended one hand. “The artifact if you please.”

Strange looked as he was going to continue to argue for a moment, and then did his sparkly swirly portal magic, opening a tiny passage. Jack tensed as the sorcerer removed a square container from the space. The portal closed with a sharp pop and Jack twitched. He couldn’t help his low growl as Loki took the container from Strange.

“Are you sure that creature is contained?” Strange asked motioning toward Jack whose growling had gotten louder. Jack mantled his wings and leaned away from Loki, crouching with his hands flat on the floor and staring at the rune marked box.

Loki glanced at Jack, tugged on the leash. “You are shielded, it is not going to infect you this time.”

Jack pulled back and slid across the floor to the end of the leash. He shook his head and kept his eyes on the box. He crouched so low his belly was almost touching the floor and Loki could see his wings trembling. Loki nodded. It was fear and not rebellion that incited the demon's behavior. He traced his fingertips along the seam and gold light burst from the edge of the lid. It opened to his touch and Loki lifted the relic out. The shifting layered cage of sphere within sphere peeled away until the softball sized heart lay in Loki’s palm, a dark and gleaming hemisphere that pulsed with iridescent bursts of swirling oily color. The glowing green of Loki’s seidr kept it from touching his skin. Jack could see pictographs had been carved into the surface, dull lines on the shining surface. Some held traces of gold or tarnished silver. There were two narrow grooves that quartered the half sphere.

“The other half is pearlescent with darkness like smoke drifting on the surface, am I correct?”

“Yes. We had only started to decipher the carvings when the two pieces began to interact with disastrous results. They are an eclectic mix of late Egyptian, Roman and Greek symbols.”

“The carvings don’t matter,” Loki said as he slowly spun the piece, “They were added after your people acquired this.” Loki chuckled. “So many have given themselves to it in the quest for wisdom, power even immortality. It is quite an ingenious trap.”

“Trap?” Strange said. “All magic can be a trap for the unwary.”

Loki replaced the layered spheres carefully, dropped the artifact into its rune carved box and handed it back to Strange.

“True enough, but this is a literal trap. I’ve read of them but never seen one before. Most sorcerers rely on wards and shields for protection or to deter thieves. This device required quite a lot of power to create. This half is the lure and the other is the cage. It is telling that those who buried it, made certain to separate the two elements. They must have had some inkling of how it worked.”

“You say it’s a trap but what does it trap?”

“Souls. Spirits. It is made to capture the essence of any mage who remains in contact with it for very long. It promises great strength and then delivers nothing. The power you sense is that of those who, willingly or unwillingly, became ensnared in the device. It is the supernatural equivalent of a fly jar. The more flies it catches, the more are drawn to the rotting bodies of their comrades. Or in this case their coalesced magic. Its creator probably never expected the flies to steal the trap and take it back to their garbage heap.”

“Then how do we release those under its influence?” Strange said eyeing the box with trepidation.

“I have not the slightest idea. Nor do I know how to destroy the thing. Its creator was or is a creature much more powerful then I. Apparently they were tired of thieves. In time, if I had access to the libraries of Alfheim and Vanaheim I could no doubt craft a solution. However I have no interest in spending twenty or thirty years in such a pursuit. My first suggestion still stands. Return it to its owner, before it drains your fellow sorcerers dry. Perhaps if it is in a separate dimension it will no longer have a hold on them.”

“And if it does? If the creature can control them through it and we hand it over, then what?”

“You kill them.” Loki said. “I would think such a course of action would be obvious. Personally I would kill them before handing it over, but I was making allowances for your emotional attachments.”

“That is not an acceptable solution.”

“It is the only realistic solution, Doctor. You asked my advice and I have given it. Whether you choose to abide by it is your choice. Regardless you first need to retrieve the other half and secure both of them. I do not think a mirror of your private study is the safest of hiding places.”

“You would be willing to help with safeguarding them? No doubt in one of you pocket dimensions where only you can reach them.”

“Truly Strange? Do you thing me a fool? I don’t want them anywhere near me. I’ll help you build your vault to give you time to chase rumors and will-o'-the-wisps. But should this become a problem that threatens me or mine I will deal with it in the manner I see fit.”

Strange returned the box to its hideaway and stood. Jack ceased his growling and sat up shakily when the mini portal closed. He crawled back to Loki’s side.

“I will accept your help. However, should there be any treachery on your part…”

Strange skipped back as Jack hit the end of his leash with a roar barely muffled by the muzzle. His claws slashed through the space where the human mage had stood a moment before. Loki held the leash and smiled as he watched the enraged demon strike out fruitlessly with claws and wings.

“I don’t think you should complete that sentence Doctor. Jack takes affront at threats to my wellbeing.”

“He is a fool to attempt an attack on a sorcerer of my caliber.”

Loki tugged on the leash. “That is enough little beast, you have made your point.” 

Jack stopped trying to reach Strange and stood panting, glaring at the man. 

“He is a bit foolish. The last creature he threatened on my behalf was an Elder. Unless I count the time he stood up to my brother. I doubt he sees you as much of a challenge.” Loki grinned. 

Strange narrowed his eyes and raised his chin, disbelief plain on his face. 

“Perhaps we should be leaving.”

“Of course Doctor, lead the way.” Loki bowed elaborately. 

Strange’s expression soured further, but he spun his hands and opened a glowing doorway to a forest of towering trees. As the spell swept all three into the woods, Jack wondered how much of Loki’s story was truth and how much lies. He had watched Loki carefully wrap the shifting containment spells around the hemisphere before placing it in its box and handing the box back to Strange. The spells Doctor Strange himself designed to conceal what lay at their center. Jack had been touched by the relic and he knew, whatever Loki had hidden there, it wasn't the Heart of Serapis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well Loki is dabbling in shit he shouldn't, but hey when did that ever stop him? He did warn Doctor Strange last chapter he is an illusionist. Guard dog Jack is the best Jack.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another fight and its aftermath.

The forest floor was open, only ferns and moss growing in the dark shade of the towering trunks and a cool wind made the tree tops rustle softly. The hair at the back of Jack’s neck lifted, he instinctively tried to shift forms and growled when the spells on the muzzle held him back. Everything about this place was wrong, from the dusty smell of the ground to the muted twittering of birds high above them. He froze and frantically scanned the area trying to see where the threat came from. All was calm and quiet, though dim, with only a few spots of brilliant sunlight touched the thick layers of decomposing conifer needles.

Jack knew approximately where they were, or where they should be. These were old growth redwoods, which meant they were on the California coast. Even the mist drifting between the trees was familiar. There was a path at the top of the ridge and he could see the brown and green trail markers of the forestry service. Doctor Strange was already walking up the hillside. Loki followed and jerked on Jack’s leash when the demon remained in place. Jack whined, unable to speak around the muzzle. All his instincts were screaming at him that they were in danger, and that nothing was as it seemed. 

“At my side.” Loki said. 

Jack again looked around and could spot nothing amiss. A second jerk on the leash and he hurried to Loki. But he couldn’t keep from paying more attention to the woods, then where he was putting his feet and he jostled Loki twice on the climb up the gentle slope. A third misstep and he almost tripped his owner as they stepped onto the path. Loki cuffed the back of Jack’s head in annoyance, but Jack simply shook it off and returned to searching the forest. His short claws slid in and out of his fingertips as he clenched his hands. 

Strange paused on the trail. “Wong is nearby. He’ll make contact if it’s safe.” He looked at Jack who had stopped when Loki smacked him and was lashing his tail side to side in obvious agitation. “Is your pet going to be a problem?”

“No he is not.” Loki said. 

Jack flinched at the tone. He knew a command when he heard one and tried to walk quietly beside Loki as they joined Strange. A squirrel chattered, breaking the silence of the forest and Jack jumped and whipped around to face the noise, his heart hammering in his throat.

His action drew Loki’s attention for a split second and then Loki turned back a blade already flying from his fingertips. The knife stopped a bare inch from the calm face of an Asian man, gold light holding it place. The two human mages eyed Loki, more gold light circling their hands. Jack returned the gaze and smiled when Loki spoke quietly behind them.

“It is never a good idea to attempt to approach me covertly.”

Jack grinned wider when both men spun around, to face Loki leaning nonchalantly against a tree, arms crossed and a smirk on his face. The leash fell loose as his illusionary copy was dispelled.

“I assume this is your colleague, Wong.”

Wong was the first to regain his composure. He gave Loki an abbreviated head nod and dismissed his own power. Strange followed suit and Loki straightened up. 

“While I do enjoy games I’ll refrain from indulging myself. Is there a reason for arranging our meeting in this dimension, other than to disconcert my thrall?”

Loki snapped his fingers and Jack leapt up and over the humans with a quick flap of his wings. He was pissed at them and took pleasure that the down draft stirred up trail dust into a choking haze. It was a petty revenge but enjoyable. Now that he knew they were not on earth, the strangeness that was alarming him subsided somewhat. He landed beside Loki and following his pointing finger knelt at his feet. The dust settled and Wong, like Loki was untouched by dust. Doctor Strange however was brushing the residue of pine duff from his clothing and a light reddish powder coated his face. Loki stroked the top of Jack’s head and he leaned into the caress.

“I chose the mirror dimension to prevent harm to the true world.” Wong said. “I was unaware that a fallen one would accompany you.” 

He and Strange exchanged glances. Strange raised his shoulders slightly. 

“Loki’s agreed to help construct a vault to house the relics until we can find a way to undue their influence.” Strange said. “The demon’s power is constrained. It’s too weak to be of consequence.”

“It is not only the fallen one, but its master that is of concern.” Wong said.

“Perhaps, then we could conduct our business and adjourn to our separate affairs.” Loki said. “I have as little wish to spend time in your company as you do in mine.”

Jack disliked the two human mages more with every word from their mouths. He was not an ‘it.’ He was not a ‘fallen one’ and he sure as hell wasn’t weak. He would joyfully attempt to kick both their butts if Loki gave him the order. He bared his teeth at them behind the muzzle and then examined his surrounding on an arcane level. There was power here, dark and malignant and feral. Now that he was no longer unsettled by this reflection of reality he could feel it coiling under the benign forest’s appearance. Jack sunk his claws into the ground and touched the energy with the lightest of probes. It curled around his fingertips like a friendly snake. Loki stroked his hand over Jack’s cheek and Jack felt the muzzle’s magic shift as Loki loosed the strap. His own power was freed, though the link to Loki remained. Loki trusted the men no more than Jack did and he was sure his owner knew exactly what he was doing, as he quietly sunk his consciousness into the dark roiling magic.

“Very well.” said Wong. “What is required?”

“A few day’s work and some esoteric ingredients.” Loki produced a list and handed it to Strange. “Nothing that should be too difficult to find.”

Strange and Wong looked over the list. 

“Some of this is available, but a few items, we may have to bargain for. Why do you need a dram of platypus venom and 5 pounds of assorted Teuscher chocolates?” Strange asked.

“I’m not working for free, Doctor.” 

“May I assume the diamonds are part of your payment?”

“Not entirely. They will serve an active part in laying out the parameters.”

“And after?

“Are you haggling over my price? I assure you I have no desire to take on this work. You may find another for your project if the cost concerns you.” 

The conversation went on over his head as Jack explored. There were millions of fracture lines in this dimension and it would fold like origami with the slightest of pressure, layering and rearranging. It was an unstable mosaic of energy and matter. Jack tugged at a small junction and a piece of the ground the size of his hand moved like a shard of glass before it crumpled into a jagged wad. Manipulating the environment with any skill would take more practice then he had time for. But the energy knew him, it sang in his blood and he pulled it from the matrix and let it flow through his veins, filling his magic reservoir to overflowing.

Jack’s skill was transmutation and he sent a small trickle of refined power through the link, testing. Loki made a small humming sound. To anyone else it sounded like simple agreement and the conversation was not interrupted as Doctor Strange continued ironing out the details of their arrangement with Loki. Jack, however, knew Loki only made that particular noise when he was deeply satisfied. Jack opened the link further and felt the dark power running through him, changing into a purer form as he gave into his master. He could see the soft blue light of his scars glowing gently as his skin paled to white, felt his limbs lengthening, the muzzle slipped free as his face elongated. He shook his head and his quills rattled. Jack grinned at the startled mages, baring his inch long fangs. Rage fueled by the dark magic burned under his skin, and he could taste their fear on his flickering tongue.

“I notice more of your colleagues are arriving. Treachery is it?” Loki said mildly.

“Not on our part.” Strange answered, glancing about while he tried to keep one eye on Loki. He raised his hands and gold sparks wreathed them. “You agreed to muzzle the demon’s magic when you brought it.”

“I did and he was so bound. You made no requirement of how long he was to remain so.” Loki said. “I’ll not keep a weapon from my hand, for your comfort, mortal.” 

“There are twelve, no thirteen of them.” Jack said, sniffing the air. His tail lashed side to side. They are closing in around us.”

“These people are not our allies, they are under the relic’s influence.” Wong said and a staff materialized between his spreading hands. "It would be best to depart."

“Follow me.” Strange called, spinning his hands in a circle, the blackness of a portal opening in the golden ring. “Don't engage with them. They are not the true enemy.”

The world lurched and split open, the giant trees bending and folding in impossible ways. Gravity spun and Jack kicked away from the ground and spread his wings, his tail balancing him as his body righted itself without visual reference. Strange lost his footing and glanced off a tree. Wong was grasping the same fracture lines and making the word bend back against their attackers who were running in from all angles. Several of them fell and slid along ground gone flat and smooth.

There was a blur next to Jack and a falcon hovered in the air while the human mages ran and jumped and fell on the buckling sliding surfaces. An arc of power lanced out and Jack side slipped to avoid it. The edge of his left wing was scorched, not badly but enough to hurt, and he screamed in fury. The need to attack was an inferno in his mind, only Loki’s word holding him back. 

“Kill them, Jack.” 

His owner's command freed him and Jack locked onto their attacker’s position and plunged after the mage. He dodged the hurtling trees and rock ridges as the geometry of the world went mad. It was no contest. Humans were used to moving two dimensions and the demon was designed to maneuver in three. Jack adjusted to the shifting gravity as automatically as he adjusted to updrafts and wind currents in normal flight. 

He folded a wing twisting in midair to kick off from a wide trunk that swept past. Another blast of power ripped bark from the tree, sending stinging splinters into his wings. Jack slammed into the mage as he was gathering another hand full of energy. The impact sent the man flying. As he tried to gain his footing Jack caught him with his hind claws and tossed him through a gap in the trees. The mage slammed into a rock ridge, was dropped down a gully and fell up as the landscape spun like a kaleidoscope. Jack met the battered mage midair and his fore claws ripped across throat and belly scattering blood and entrails across the sky.

From the corner of his eye Jack saw the falcon blur past in pursuit of another mage. It effortlessly dodged the thrown energy bursts. The swooping bird was a few feet from its target when it shifted into Loki and he hit the mage with his daggers, the strikes so fast Jack could not count them. The man collapsed, dead before his body hit the spinning ground.

A flash of red lanced toward Jack taking his attention away from Loki. A woman armed with a spear thrust her weapon and a swirling disc of fire exploded from the end. Jack threw out his hand and met it with a shield of ice. She threw another fire disc and another, but ice was the easiest of his magics and he rapidly closed the distance between them. She slashed with the spear’s bladed end and Jack spun out of the way, but not quick enough and pain ripped over his ribs and down his side. He lashed out with a wing and caught her on the side of her head, and she staggered. He tried to rip the spear from her grasp and it flashed in his hands with agonizing fire. She punched at him and Jack was the one to stagger when the blow hit his torn side. His knees collapsed and he landed heavily on his back. The mage sprang forward the spear raised to stab. Jack’s tail whipped up between his spread legs and the woman fell back. Her spear clattered away as she dropped to the ground, her hands clutching at her torn thigh, where Jack's tail spikes had ripped open her femoral artery.

Jack lay panting on the ground his own hands covering his wounded side, watching the mage bleed out. He gazed around for the next hostile, but already the world was sliding back into place like pieces in a puzzle. Loki stood on the moving ground while it went from vertical to horizontal as if the law of gravity was only one more rule that didn't apply to him. Jack saw a flash of gold as one of the attacking mages opened a portal and went through. Wong was holding a struggling man who had been cocooned head to foot in netting. A woman was sitting up, beside him her mouth and hands bound with iron bands. Strange was dragging the unconscious body of a large fat fellow. A young man trailed behind, in glowing shackles. There was no need to question what happened to the other six. Loki’s dark leather armor was splashed crimson. The ones who had crossed his path were not going to be a problem in the future.

Jack swayed to his feet. He wondered if Loki wanted him to finish off the captives. His side burned with agony, blood ran down his hip and leg and his head swam. He took a stumbling step toward Wong.

“That is enough Jack.” Loki said as he moved between the human mages and the demon. “Tend to your wound.”

Jack nodded. He was weak with blood loss and his power was draining from him with each beat of his heart. He poured what was left into patching his side together. Hunger washed over him, an empty aching void and it dropped him to his hands and knees. He raised his head. Food lay before him, rich with the scent of blood, one of his master’s kills. His belly cramped and he panted in pain. He crawled the few feet to the corpse, ignoring the heated exchange between the mortals and Loki. Instinct took over and he fed, tearing raw meat from bone and bolting it down. The craving for flesh to replace what he’d lost, was undeniable. There was more noise, loud angry voices and he mantled over his meal, protecting his food from those who would steal it. 

But it was his master who caught his collar and dragged his dripping jaws away from the meat. He whined but did not fight. A calming blanket of healing green wrapped around him, easing some of the pain and craving. He was lifted from the ground and Loki held him like a child. Jack sighed and laid his head on Loki’s shoulder and draped one arm around his neck. The mirror world shattered into glass before his glazed eyes, the shards tumbling away into a twinkling night sky. They were still in a forest, but one of smaller pines. Jack recognized Loki’s cabin as his master carried him through the space he’d cleared only a few days ago. 

The inside of the building was cold and dark, but the smell was familiar and Jack sighed contentedly as Loki lowered him to his bed by the stove. He licked the blood from his hands and his face, the coppery taste sweet. He was still hungry, but the need wasn’t as desperate. He yawned and watched Loki put logs into the stove. Fire crawled over the wood and the door shut with a clang. Loki filled the kettle, removed his bloody armor and sank into his chair with a sigh. The lamp on the table bloomed into light.

“Was it a necessity for you to eat one of them?” Loki asked.

“Hurt.” Jack sang in discord, after a long pause where he hunted for a way to put his slow thoughts into meaning. “Hungry.” he clarified with a minor chord. 

Loki shook his head. “I could have smoothed over the rest. We were defending ourselves. Thor would find no fault with that.”

Loki’s words where confusing to Jack’s dulled mind. 

“Hungry.” He trilled again using a rising scale to show his hope of more food.

He whimpered as he shifted on his bed. His side still ached and the food he’d eaten was not enough for his body to replace the blood loss. Loki narrowed his eyes at him and Jack whined now in submission, knowing his master was upset at him, without knowing why.

Loki rubbed his forehead, considering his thrall. Jack was almost insensible at the moment, the aftermath of channeling the mirror world’s dark magic and the damage he’d taken dropping him to an instinctive level. That he was singing tones instead of speaking words meant he was far from true thought. The beast had been slashed open from ribs to hip and had he been anything other then what he was, would have died in seconds. Loki couldn’t pause to heal him and drop his guard with Strange and Wong. They were furious with his use of deadly force, but Loki was not going to put himself or Jack in danger to protect a few mortals who’d had the effrontery to attack him. They had backed off and Loki was already moving to heal Jack when the demon ripped into one of the dead mages. Loki didn’t even try to explain to Strange and Wong. He hit them with a blast of power to keep them busy, scooped up Jack and teleported them home. He knew his abrupt exit had damaged the mirror dimension at their local, but at that point he truly did not care. He was tired of dealing with the humans and their weird tainted magic.

Loki sighed again. It wasn’t Jack’s fault he was drawn to that kind of power, or that he reverted to animal instincts under extreme pressure. The demon hadn’t chosen his nature and had done his best to keep the more evil aspects of it under control. He’d undoubtedly have a crisis of conscious once he’d recovered, if Loki left him to himself. Loki got back on his feet and walked across the room, opened the cold box and dug through it. Several frozen fish and a cut of fresh beef were the result. He considered cooking them, looked over at Jack already licking his jaws and simply unwrapped the strange clear coverings Midgardians used for everything. 

He made himself tea and a sandwich as Jack happily crunched through ten pounds of frozen cod and six of raw roast. The beast licked his hands clean, lapped the foam platters clear of any remaining juices then took an experimental bite of foam and spat it out. Jack yawned again displaying his razor sharp teeth and curled up, his long legs clasped to his chest, and his wings wrapped around him like a blanket. He was asleep before Loki finished his second cup of tea.

It was just as well. Loki waited until the beast was snoring to kneel beside him and place a hand on his forehead. Jack’s sleeping thoughts opened to him as a flower to the sun. The demon had barriers on his mind in place, but none of them were made to keep Loki out. Jack’s trust in him was absolute. Loki wanted to slap the idiot for his foolishness, but it served this endeavor. Loki sorted through his thrall’s recent memories, carefully altering them. There had been a battle, but now Jack’s memories showed him turning away after disabling his opponents, not the moments of the kill. Jack would remember being badly wounded and Loki healing him, even his feast of raw fish and beef, but the man-eating incident was erased. Loki left the rest of the demon’s mind untouched. Partly his actions were from compassion, to prevent the demon suffering, but mostly, Loki admitted to himself, because he didn't want to put up with Jack's whining and self castigation if he knew the truth.

He pulled his hands away and rose to his feet. He was dead tired and a few hours remained until sunrise on this side of the world. He prayed Thor would have the courtesy to wait until dawn before crashing through the door and demanding an explanation for the past few days. Loki stretched out on the bed and shut his eyes calming his mind with techniques he’d learned hundreds of years before. It was strange how his thoughts drifted back so easily to the days of his youth. Those memories now untainted. Thor’s smiling eyes and soft face with only the trace of a beard on his chin filled his vision. He’d loved his brother so much then. He’d been so sure of Thor’s love in return. Not even his father’s remoteness could chill that warmth. Loki drifted on the edge of sleep as thoughts of Asgard’s long endless summer flowed through his mind. Always Thor was there, laughing and wrestling, teasing and annoying him and then hugging him out of his exasperation. Filling Loki’s days with his golden innocent joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack is a mess. Loki is a sneaky bastard. Strange and Wong may have made a deal with the devil. Though better the devil you know...


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Housework.

Jack woke panting with heat, the bright morning light hurt his eyes and he flicked the inner eyelids over them dimming it to a tolerable glow. There was a furnace at his back and the stench of rotting blood in his nostrils. He was in the cabin, still in demon form and alone. He tried to sit up and fell back as pain lanced through his side. Pain that stole the breath from his lungs and left him too weak to cry out for help. Darkness closed around him again.

The second time he awoke he was cold except for a fire that burned in his side. The floor was hard under his arm and hip and knees. He blinked his eyes open. Still in the cabin. Still alone. But he’d managed to crawl out of his bed and shape change in his sleep. Human or what passed for it, his weakest form. He wondered why he’d shifted and remembered the heat of the stove. But moving away should have taken care of that. Jack carefully pushed himself upright. The pulling pain of mending muscle and skin and something deeper made him break into a sweat. That deeper hurt didn’t just burn from damage, it felt hot, deep in his side. He gingerly touched the area and even through his vest he could feel the heat. He looked around the cabin, no Loki. The shadows told him it was still morning.

Jack rolled to his hands and knees, his bloodied clothes sticking and dragging on his skin. He crawled to the closest chair and used it to drag himself to his feet. He stood swaying but upright. There was a note on the table. 

'Gone till evening. Thor will look in. Eat. **Do not make trouble!** '

Jack sighed, he was in no shape to make anything. There was bread and butter and an apple on the table. Jack ate standing, leaning against the chair, afraid if he sat down he wouldn’t be able to get up again. The food helped with the lightheadedness, the two glasses of water he drank when he toddled over to the sink cleared his mind a bit more. He was stiff and sore and filthy. His wound was throbbing. He needed to get his vest off to look at it but the cloth was glued to his side with crusted blood and fluids. The thought of a shower was heavenly. Jack made it to the bathroom turned on the water and was faced with a dilemma. 

The easiest thing to do, was to stand in the shower and let the warm water wash away enough of the mess that he could peel off the material without doing more harm. But if he did that the clothes would be stained and Loki would be angry at him. They were Loki’s clothes not his, for all he’d had at the cave was the pajamas he’d arrived in. He tried to pull the cloth away from his side and almost blacked out from the stab of agony. Jack held onto the sink until his legs stopped trembling. The fact that he’d also torn the hole in the tunic wider brought tears to his eyes. Do not make trouble, was the command and here he’d already caused more damage.

He reached into the shower and turned off the hot water. He was chilled now, and would be freezing shortly, but he’d be able to undress in a few minutes and the blood stains wouldn’t be set. Jack stepped into the icy water and gasped from shock. It was barely above freezing. But the blood was washing from his clothing, and pooled red around his feet. He was shaking, his teeth chattering by the time the tunic loosened and he could pull it from his side. He shut the water off and quickly undressed. Tears did fall when he saw the tattered mess his back spines had made of the tunic. There was nothing he could do about it now. He wrung the water from the ruined clothes and tossed them in the sink to drain. 

The warm water was a relief and Jack felt his tension unwind as it cascaded over his head and down his shoulders. Soap and shampoo completed the job and he wanted to laugh at how upset he’d been only moments earlier. Loki wouldn’t blame him for damaging old clothes when they’d been fighting for their lives. He inspected the wound, it was a long slash from his lower rib cage to his hip bone. The skin looked like it had partially healed and then split apart again. It was leaking clear fluid and Jack could feel the heat, as if a piece of charcoal was smoldering in his liver. 

He turned off the water and was gingerly drying the area when he heard voices. Unfamiliar voices, two men and a woman. Jack swore softly, he’d not brought any clothing in with him. Loki had said nothing about company. He wrapped the towel around his waist and poked his head out of the door.

To his surprise the woman was stacking up Loki’s meager collection cooking utensils while the men were picking up several other items, including Jack’s backpack which held his remaining clothes.

“Hey,” Jack called, “What are you doing? That’s my stuff. I need that.” 

His tone was one of inquiry rather than accusation. He could tell they were Aesir from their dress, and couldn’t conceive of anyone bold enough to steal from Loki. They glanced at him and then tuned back to their work without answering. The woman asked one of the men to take down a pot hung out of her reach and he stepped over to oblige.

“What the fuck?” Jack thought. “Don’t they understand English?” He shook his head. Just because Thor and Loki, and the few Aesir he'd met had All-Speech, didn’t mean all of them had a universal translator built into their heads. He’d have to get his message across in another way. He hoped the woman wouldn’t be shocked at his lack of dress, but he couldn’t do anything about it until he retrieved his backpack.  
Jack tightened the towel, left the bathroom and slowly walked up to the man who had his backpack slung over one arm. The fellow watched him approach with a frown. Jack smiled to show he meant no harm. The other two observed them with detached curiosity. He reached for his pack and gave it a gentle tug with one hand while indicating his undressed state with the other.

“This is mine.” Jack said. “I need to get my clothes...” Two things occurred to Jack at the same time. The first was that he heard and understood the woman ask for help. The other was that the expression on the man’s face was not one of alarm, but of disgust.

The blow that knocked him flying across the room was too swift for his damaged body to dodge. He hit the edge of the bed and his side exploded in pain, dropping him to the floor. He hardly heard the man’s snarled, “No one told you to speak, thrall. You own nothing. Do not dare to lay your hand on me again.” through the sound of his blood pounding in his brain.

“Motherfucker!” Jack swore in exasperation as he tried to get his breath back and staggered to his feet, clutching the unwrapped towel over his genitals.

Loki’s “Don’t cause trouble” echoed in his brain and he held back his immediate reaction, which was to curse the man out. There was the crash of several things hitting the floor and Jack looked up to see the man barreling toward him, his face scarlet with fury.

Jack was stunned, why was he being attacked? They must be robbers. He had to try and stop them. He whipped the towel at his attacker’s head and groped for some kind of weapon. A pillow was all he found and he threw it at the man’s face as he pulled the towel away from his eyes. Jack tried to dodge past, hampered by the tearing pain. He attempted to change form and all that did was make his eyes dim his knees buckle. He had not a drop of magic left in him it had all been channeled into healing. A blow across his shoulders sent him tumbling to crash into the table. Before he could rise a booted foot caught him in his injured side. If he could have drawn breath, he would have screamed. All he could do was curl around the agony as kick after kick slammed into his body, his ribs cracked, his muscles bruised and his chin slammed into his knees at a strike to the back of his head. It was the man’s companions pulling him awaythat saved his life.

“That’s enough. The prince won’t thank you for killing his thrall.” the woman said.

Jack crawled till he was against the wall, the table giving him a small protection from the larger man's fury.

“I’m not paying the cost of its healing out of my wages.” the other man said.

“It’s his own fault if he didn’t train it properly. I’m allowed to defend myself if I’m attacked.” The first man stated.

“That was hardly an attack.” the woman said.

“You heard it. Why should I take that from a filthy Jotun’s breeding bitch?”

“Have a care, your tongue will get you hung one of these days.”

“I only say what everyone else feels. Have we fallen so low that an abomination stands to inherit the throne?”

“Enough!” The woman said.

Jack’s attacker growled but picked up the things he had dropped and carried them outside. Jack huddled under the table, naked and terrified and bleeding as they stripped the room of everything but the furniture. They even took the bedding and Loki’s clothes hanging on the wall pegs. Jack growled when the two men grasped the edges of his hiding place, though he was in no shape to defend himself. They however simply took the table outside as they had the rest of the furniture. The women dropped a pair of Jack’s pants on him.

“Put those on and stay out of the way.” she ordered.

It was easier said than done, but Jack struggled into the pants, yelping as his movements aggravated the reopened wound. Jack tried to retreat to the bathroom but even that was being stripped of its washstand and he was forced to go out into the biting cold and stand in a corner of the porch. It had been rebuilt while they were away and was now enclosed on the north side. That gave him some shelter from the wind. All of Loki’s belongings were laid out on tarps and the bed and mattress joined them. A cart filled with more furniture waited off the path.

Jack watched confused as the ‘thieves’ took cleaning supplies into the now empty building. He sat on the wooden floor and waited, too cowed and hurt and cold to try to interfere. A loud buzzing came from the back of the house and Jack could smell the scent of cut wood. Various machine sounds followed and after a couple of hours they returned and started moving some of the furniture inside.The table was returned as were the chairs, and two more were added from the cart. The bed also went back and then a canopy fame followed and was attached. Cabinets were brought in and Jack could hear a strange soft buzzing. He chanced a glance in the window and saw the cabinets being installed above and around the sink instead of the simple sideboard. A smaller bed was brought in and slid under the large one. Another arm chair was added as well as a large wardrobe. Cabinets went into the bathroom and a good sized tub followed. Jack wondered how ti was going to fit into the small space. As the new furniture and cabinets floated to their places on flat glowing pads, the work went remarkably fast. A forth man had joined them from behind the house. 

Jack watched them mystified. Why hadn’t Loki told him these workmen would be here? Why hadn’t he warned Jack he was not supposed to speak to the Aesir? He’d had no trouble when he went to Thor’s home. He didn’t understand their hostility. He hadn’t done anything to deserve the brutal beating. 

The sun was going down and Jack was shivering uncontrollably when the three workers brought in new bedding and curtains, cushions and thick rugs and throws. All of it in deep jewel tones and very different from the Spartan furnishings they replaced. Heavy gold trimmed curtains were arraigned on the canopy frame and a tapestry of a garden was hung on one wall. The cushion that served for Jack’s bed, his blanket and backpack sat forlorn on the tarp along with the old washstand and side board. Jack took the opportunity to trundle across the frozen ground and retrieve his belongings. He was sweating with the effort and shaking with cold, his numb hands almost useless. He piled his bed and back pack in the corner making a nest and sat in the middle of it the blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Not trusting the workers he removed his few treasures from his pack and tucked them into a gap between the logs of the cabin and the new porch wall. He was in the process of fishing out a shirt when his attacker came out and saw him. 

“What are you doing with that trash?” He roared starting forward. Jack flinched back but bared his teeth at the man, raising his fists and standing, though he had to brace against the wall to stay on his feet 

“Don’t hit it again.” The woman said from the doorway. “Just get the trash and put it in the cart.”

The man moved menacingly forward. He grabbed the edge of the blanket, pulling it from Jack’s shoulders. Jack let him take it, let him take the bed and even the pack under it. There was nothing worth fighting for, in it now. He could suffer the cold for a little longer. They looked to be leaving and Jack would soon be back inside where he could warm up to the stove. The other man was loading it with fresh logs and building up the fire. Jack stood and shivered as they gathered their tools, folded the tarps and added the sideboard and washstand to the cart. His attacker went back inside and carried out the last of the floating pads. He shut the door, and stood there for a moment as though gathering his thoughts. His companions called and he turned to them giving Jack a nasty smirk. In a moment he joined the others on the cart, which rose a few feet off the ground and floated into the gathering dark toward the settlement.

Jack breathed a sigh of relief and went to open the door. It wouldn’t budge. Jack could see the green glow of Loki’s seidr outlining the frame. It was sealed with magic. He turned to the windows and encountered the same spell. It was a familiar bit of magic, Loki had evoked it every evening. A simple enough security measure, it only prevented entrance not exit. Loki must have given the workers a cantrip to activate it. 

Jack hit the glass in frustration and green it glowed at each impact. That bastard must have locked him out from spite. Surely Loki wouldn’t do this this to him. He promised he wouldn’t throw Jack away. But Loki had them take away Jack’s bed and blanket and clothes. He leaned against the window. He was hurt and cold and hungry and tired. Loki had said Thor would be here but, there was no Thor. He’d said he’d be back tonight, but could Jack trust that? Should he try to walk to the town and find Thor himself? Or go to Corbin? He could stay in his child’s room until Loki returned. The phrase “an abomination to inherit the throne” returned to his mind. Jack had assumed the man referred to Loki, but what if he meant Corbin? 

The thought that his child could be in danger, galvanized Jack. He had to protect Corbin, had to tell Thor of the threat, if Loki wasn't in town. He turned his back on the house and stepped off the porch. The wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped with nightfall. Jack’s teeth were clenched to keep them from chattering and he hunched wrapping his arms around his bare torso. The ground was colder than the porch floorboards and his feet were burning and numbing before he crossed the yard. He pushed on. It was only a fifteen minute walk to the settlement and moving would warm him. 

“Fuck!” he thought, “Fuck the bastard who’d beat him and the bitch wizard who’d stabbed him. Fuck Thor for not showing up, and fuck Loki for not telling him anything about the fucking remodel and leaving him in the dark about every single fucking thing. Fuck the damn wind and the fucking cold and his own stupid fucking feet that keep catching on every fucking stone and tuft of fucking grass.”

At least the walk was working. He was finally warming up, even if his feet were still clumsy and slow and his hands were completely numb. His teeth had stopped chattering too. In a few minutes he’d be in town, in his child’s room. Corbin was so smart. He’d take over from his father someday, run an entire planet. Jack yawned. It was definitely getting warmer. He dropped his hands to his side as he walked. The ground was still frosted with white and snow was gathered in hollows. The ice made shiny spots on the road under the rising mood. That was strange, it didn’t snow on Sakaar and he was sure there was no moon. He'd have noticed a moon.

Jack shook his head to clear his thoughts. Not on Sakaar. He was on earth. And he had to find Corbin. Because… something… the reason was a silver fish that darted between his fingers as he tried to grasp it. He realized he’d stopped moving and started up again. The moonlight flickered on the ice, like the silver fish he had to catch. Jack followed them as they danced in and out of shadow, darting across the open spaces and hiding under the trees. He needed a net to catch them. He sank to his knees to pull up the long grass to weave a net. A net of sleep. The ground was as warm and soft as a bed. Even the sticky wetness of his side was warm, flowing over his skin and driving away the last of the cold. The fish swam around him as he lay in his bed of grass, nipping at his fingers and toes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aesir are way too strong for Jack to take on when he's in good shape. Keeping track of time underground and in the mirror universe is not easy, especially if what day it is isn't all the important to you. Loki needs a desk calendar. Maybe the remodellers left him one.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Found. A trip to the states. Misunderstanding.

There was a loud voice and someone shook him. Jack wanted them to go away. He was busy making fishnets and the voice was disturbing the schools of sparkling silver sardines. He was going to catch them and make cracker sandwiches for Corbin. Corbin had never had sardines and Jack knew it was important to share them, before it was too late. Then there was a face, a blonde bearded face when he got his eyes open and he was afraid. He tried to struggle free but, the voice growled at him and it wasn’t the voice that had hurt him. There was something different about the eyes. 

“Thor?” Jack said.

 

****** 

Jack was laying on a bed. His hands and feet and nose and ears burned. He was home. The logs wall were familiar, though the curtains around the bed weren’t. He was on Loki’s bed. On Loki’s new bed. He was laying on his back on Loki’s new bed and he could feel the wet on his side, smell the corruption of the wound. Jack knew he was dripping on Loki’s bed and soiling the new blankets. He had to get off the bed. He had already caused trouble and now he was making it worse. He rolled over to get the wound away from the blankets and pain lanced in his side and dark closed in. Someone screamed and he wanted them to shut up. His head hurt. But the hurt turned red and warm and he floated away. 

******

“Why is he tied up?” That was Loki’s voice. There was something he had to tell Loki. 

“He won’t lay still.” That deep rumble was Thor.

There was a weight on the bed and Loki’s cool hand touched his brow. Jack blinked his gummy eyes open. He tried to reach out to grasp Loki’s arm but his hand wouldn’t move. He licked his tongue over dry lips. 

“Loki. I…” Jack frowned, he knew there was something important he had to tell Loki.

“Hush little beast. You will be alright.” Loki turned his head and spoke to Thor. “He’s feverish and the wound is infected. He’s been beaten and he looks frostbit. What happened to him? Why have you not called a healer? Why wait until my return? Rjúpa is in town.” 

“I don’t know what happened to him. There was no one home when I arrived. I found a blood trail outside your door, followed it and he was laying on the ground, mumbling about fish. As for the other I did request Rjúpa, but she said her knowledge of earth species is so poor she would do more harm than good. I’ve been putting hot cloths on the wound to draw out the infection. You were already on your way back when I called Stark.” 

Loki frowned down at Jack and he cringed back, afraid of being hurt again. Loki shook his head.

“I’m not angry at you, Jack.”

Loki peeled back the cloth on his side and Jack couldn’t keep from yelping when his fingers pressed the reddened skin. 

“Knowledgeable about his species or not, a healer trained under Eir shouldn’t have had any trouble treating this.” 

Loki’s seidr coiled cool over his skin and eased some of the hurt. As it probed deeper Jack stiffened and then cried out as heat flared in the wound. Loki’s magic pulled back but the pain didn’t immediately recede. Jack yelped in short panting cries and tugged on his bonds, until the sharp pulses went back to a bearable level.

Loki snapped at Thor. “Why did you not tell me this is what happened before.”

“I didn't know that would happen.”

“Then why did she stop attempting to heal him?” 

There was a silence and Loki narrowed his eyes at Thor. “What are you hiding brother?”

“She didn’t try to heal him.”

“Why pray tell?” Loki voice had gone silky smooth. 

Fear made Jack’s heart hammer in his chest and he cried out. “I’m sorry I’m sorry.” Not knowing what he was apologizing for, only afraid of his god’s anger. 

“I don’t think this is helping. You are only upsetting him.” Thor said.

Loki’s fingertips brushed over Jack’s lips, pressed gently. Jack stopped his whimpering. When one finger slid between his lips and into his mouth he calmed, shut his eyes and sucked on it. 

“Why?” Loki asked again.

“She said she was too busy. Must you did that? It looks obscene.”

“It settles him down. Too busy to answer the order of her king?” Loki asked. “What great crisis stalks Asgard that takes up all our healer’s time?”

“Let it alone Loki.”

“I will not. I come to my home to find my thrall beaten and left out in the cold, suffering from an infected wound and you tell me to leave it alone? Am I stepping out of my place, that I demand answers for this insult?”

“Of course not. I will look into what happened here, but I haven’t had time yet.”

“You also are too busy?”

“Damn it. I was trying to keep that idiot pet of yours alive. He was half frozen and I thought it more important to get him warm. I have every intention of seeing you get justice.”

“Then tell me why the healer will not see to him.”

Thor heaved a sigh.

“Rjúpa said she wasn’t a veterinarian. That she won’t waste her medicines on an animal, when there were Aesir that may need them.”

“Ah.’ Said Loki and Jack tensed.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean it that way.”

“Then how did she mean it? How is calling the mother of my child an animal not an insult? Does she imply that I mate with beasts? Or am I to assume that I too and nothing more than an animal? After all I am not truly an Aesir am I, Brother?”

“Loki stop it. I didn’t tell you because I knew you would be like this.”

“How else should I be?” Loki’s voice was clipped with anger and his nails dug into Jack’s cheek.

“I. Will. Deal. With. It.” 

Loki drew several harsh breaths. Jack licked his wrist in an effort to calm him. Loki jerked his hand away and glared down at Jack. Jack bit his lip to keep from apologizing again. His head hurt, his side pulsed with pain and his thoughts were fuzzy. He was too hot and too cold at the same time. But Loki was angry and he knew it was his fault.

Loki puffed his cheeks and let out a final breath. His hand returned and was gentle on Jack’s cheek.

“Get Banner. I don’t like relying on the primitive medicine of this world. However as my magic cannot heal him, and neither it seems, can his, I do not see as we have a choice. Banner treated Jack before so he is at least somewhat familiar with his physiometry.”

Thor got up and left the cabin.

“Loki, my memories. They’re outside. In the wall. If it rains… they will melt.” Jack shut his eyes, breathing hard. That was part of what he had to tell Loki. 

“Shh, you’ll be alright. You memories are safe inside your foolish head.”

“Nooo!” Jack pulled the ropes trying to get up. “They are outside. I had to hide them. Please Loki, get them. Please.”

“Jack. Stop it.”

“From Sakaar, all I have left. Please. In the wall. In the corner. Between things…” He couldn’t find the right words and tears of frustration spilled down his cheeks. “Please look.”

“Alright Jack. I’ll go look, if you will rest.”

Jack sighed and nodded. Loki didn’t sound like he believed him, but he said he’d look.

Jack shut his eyes, the effort had worn him out. The cool fingers left his cheek. The weight was removed from the bed, and footsteps went across the room. The door opened and Loki’s soft baritone joined Thor’s lower rumble.

“Tell Banner he’s hallucinating…”

The door closed. The voices were muffled and Jack wanted to cry. There was something else he had to say, to warn of, but it was out of reach. Darting past his grasp. There was a fish and nets, silver things that flickered, in the darkness.

Jack slid back into consciousness and Loki was once again beside him. 

“I found your things Jack, stuffed between the logs.”

There was a black feather on a gold chain in his hand, the quill wrapped with red beads.

“Corbin’s.” Jack said. “Baby feather.” One of the silver fish flashed across his mind.

“Thor is taking us to New York, to see Dr. Banner. Do you understand?"

“No! No! Corbin, Loki. He called Corbin an abomination. Have to get my son safe.” 

“Who Jack? Who called Corbin that? Who beat you?”

A dark blond head and beard flicked and was gone.

“Thor?” Jack said.

“Thor did this to you?”

“I did not.”

That wasn’t right. Jack shook his head and the room tilted. He grasped the ropes so he wouldn’t fall off the bed.

“Not Thor” Jack said. That was right. “Not Thor did it. Took my stuff. Let the fishes get away. I need a net.“

Thor grumbled. “He’s raving.”

“I’m aware of that, brother. But I won’t ignore a potential threat to Corbin. You take him to Banner and I’ll get Corbin and met you there.”

Jack nodded and shut his eyes again. He felt the ropes slithering off him like snakes.

“Be quick Thor. I can only hope the Bifrost power won’t affect him as my seidr does.”

Jack was lifted and the movement made his cracked ribs shift. He wheezed out a thin cry. Loki touched his forehead and his cold magic chilled his feverish brain.

There were flashes of light and then sound.

Stark’s, “Is that the same guy?”

Banner’s “Put him down here.”

The ache of an IV shoved into the back of his hand and more darkness. 

******

There was a soft beeping, lulling, and light that shifted behind his closed lids. Jack blinked. He was in a white room and there were machines all around him. Most of them silent. He went to rub his eyes and his right hand was tangled with a line. A thin tube ran from his hand to a bag hanging from a pole. More lines were attached to plastic pads stuck to his chest and ribs. He was in a hospital. He’d never been in one as a patient, but he’d seen them often enough visiting friends. He swallowed, there were too many dead friends in his past. He was thirsty. Why was he alone? He pushed himself upright and the beeping sped up. He took a deep breath. The pain in his side was minimal and his ribs and head no longer ached, but he was dizzy and weak. Hungry too, he needed to find food.

Jack was wondering if he should take the IV from the back of his hand or just drag the pole along with him, when the door opened. Banner stood in the entrance and Stark was behind him. 

“You shouldn’t be up.” Banner said walking into the room and checking a machine to the right of the bed. Stark followed him but took a position at the foot of the bed. 

“I’m fine.” Jack said

“That’s a new look for you, Bat boy. You could almost pass for human.” Stark said

Jack ignored him and asked Banner.” Are Loki and Corbin alright?”

“Rock of ages and Damien are upstairs playing video games.” Stark replied.

Jack growled. “Do not refer to child by that name. He is no monster.” 

His voice deepened as he shifted form, his wings pushing out from his shoulder blades and his tail bone lengthening into a whip. The change didn’t stop there and as rage boiled up. No one threatened or disrespected Corbin. Sharp spines pushed out of his scalp and down his backbone and the end of his tail was spiked like a mace. He opened his muzzle baring his inch long fangs and extended his claws. Banner backed toward the door.

“This is NOT GOOD!” Banner said as green flushed across his face.

“Whoa!” Stark said raising his hands. “Calm down! Everybody calm down. Banner back to your lab! I got this. Friday, tell Loki to get his leather clad ass down here.”

Jack ripped the IV from his arm and the pads from his chest. 

“Fuck You! You don’t get to call my kid names, you asshole!” He pushed off the bed and started toward Stark. His legs crumpled on the second step and he pitched forward onto his hands and knees. 

“FUCK!” Jack swore as he panted for breath. “As soon as I can get up I’m kicking your butt from one end of this building to the other.” He tried to rise, only to have the room pitch to the left and he landed on his side, knocking out his breath. “Damn it! Fucking goddamned son of a motherfucking bitch!” Jack racked his claws over the floor and pulled himself back up to his hands and knees. Ten gouges shredded the tiles and splintered the subfloor. 

“Maybe you need to rethink that strategy Bat Boy.” Stark said.

There was a gleam of metal and Jack glanced up to see Stark’s iron man armor covering him like advancing army ants. Banner was nowhere in sight. 

“I don’t give a goddamn fucking shit Stark! In armor or naked I am sending your sorry butt straight to fucking hell! Do not pass go! Do not collect two hundred! I don’t care if you got double god damned hotels on Boardwalk and Park Blvd and the fucking Green states, you are dead meat!” 

Jack managed to get his knees under him enough to sit up. He could feel his arms shaking. 

“Do you just threaten me with monopoly references?”

Jack nodded, his rage spent in words and exhaustion. He made a soft chuffing sound.

“For an impromptu threatening villain speech that was a definite a six out of ten.”

The chuffing got louder and Jack dropped his head.

“Not the best I’ve heard, but in the top twenty. I’m subtracting points for the swearing. You might want to pick up a thesaurus or get one of those word a day calendars, before you take it on the road.” 

Jack was bent over holding his sides and the chuffing turned into a low barking sound.

“Maybe work on the particulars a bit, tailor them more to your hero. Kick your butt is so generic.”

“Punt your perfectly sculpted ass off this pretentious monument to your ego?” Jack got out between barks. 

“Not bad, minus two points for the use of ass.”

Jack shook his head and droplets hit the floor only to hiss into vapor. There was a small spattering of snowflakes as the air around him cooled below freezing.  
“I’m gonna use your ass.”

“Banter, with an innuendo. You’re getting it, but you are still a little crude.”

“Jack is always crude.” Loki said. He crossed over to Jack. “Is this your emergency Stark? Trading insults?”

“Look Reindeer Games, your boyfriend is the one who turned into Heavy Metal Olaf and started threatening me.”

“You shouldn’t have called Corbin, Damian.” Jack said as Loki reached down and pulled him to his feet.

“The one who tames?” Loki asked, settling Jack back on the bed.

“That’s not what he meant, it’s a movie reference to an evil, monstrous child.” Jack growled. 

Loki said softly. “Is that so?”

“Look, Studio One I take it back. It was just a joke.”

“Insulting a prince of Asgard is not a matter of humor. Why do you insist on attempting to start an inter-realm war, Stark?” Loki said

He pulled the light sheet up around Jack’s waist. “And where are your pants? This is getting to be a habit.”

“I admit it was a stupid joke. Can we forget it?”

“I just woke up this way.” Jack said and lay back down. He flattened the black quills on his back so they lay close to his white hide. “It’s not my fault.”

“It is your fault that you reacted violently to Stark’s insult,” Loki looked over at Stark, “which we will overlook this time as you are our host.” Loki said.

He lay his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Do you remember what occurred at the cabin Jack? What the threat was against Corbin?”

“Uh huh. Can I get some water first? And food? I’m really hungry.”

“Sure thing. We wouldn’t want a repeat of mage tartare.” Stark said.

“What?” said Jack. He tried to sit back up. Loki’s hand on his chest held him to the bed.

“Nothing.” said Loki. “Stark is only attempting to make another joke.”

“Yeah.” Stark added at a sharp look from Loki. “Bad jokes. I’m full of them today.”

“You’re full of something.” Loki added as Stark left.

Stark paused in the doorway. “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.”

When he was gone Jack asked Loki.

“Why am I here and not home?”

“When you fought that woman sorcerer, her blade chipped and a piece was embedded in your ribs. These human mages make weapons from inferior metal, trusting the magic infused into it to do all the work. I do not know what that blade was shaped from, but I can make an educated guess. Most likely it was a piece of mass produced jewelry by the way the spell was worked into the material itself.”

“But why couldn’t I heal it? Or you?”

“It is fire magic and from a source that is inimical to your magic. I could not remove it without doing you more harm. Doctor Banner was able to perfume the operation using more mundane means.”

"Oh."

It was a women Jack didn’t know who brought the water. Loki and she eyed each other warily before she left. Jack finished the glass and waited while Loki refiled it from the pitcher, he drank half of that and put it down. 

“What did Stark mean…? ”

“Jack, you are stalling.” 

Jack looked away avoiding Loki's eyes. “It was just a stupid incident,” He said, “I’m alright now and Corbin is safe. It doesn’t matter.” 

He didn’t want to tell Loki, he’d get upset or angry or maybe it would hurt his feelings. It was a damn mine field and Jack didn’t want to start across it. He wasn’t exactly afraid of Loki’s reaction, more afraid for it. If Loki was mad enough he might go after the Aesir and then Thor might have to intervene. Jack shook his head. 

“It’s over. It’s not important. Corbin wasn’t really in any danger. It was just a stupid crack, like Stark made. It might not have even been about Corbin. I was kinda out of it at the time. Can we just drop it?”

“No we cannot. There has been a complaint lodged against me for defamation of character, because of a slanderous statement you made. Also a minor assault charge. So I need to know exactly what you did that caused this situation.”

“That’s bullshit! I didn’t do anything! All I did was try to get my back pack from the guy. I didn’t know who they were, and they wouldn’t answer me. I was being polite. You said don’t get in trouble and I tried not to. I just reached for my pack and he hit me and knocked me across the fucking room. When I stood up he started beating me. I just tried to get away. The others pulled him off me and the woman threw my pants at me and told me to get dressed. I had to go outside until they left and then they locked me out in the cold.”

“The deposition says you were indecent in your dress when you approached them.”

“I wasn’t. I was in the shower when they showed up. I put a towel around my waist before I came out. I only lost it when he started hitting me.”

“Did you address him in a manner that disparaged his status and then forcibly attempt to remove property from his grasp?”

“Damn it Loki, He’s lying. I just asked for my backpack, I gave it a tug to show what I wanted because I didn’t think he understood English. He said I wasn’t allowed to talk to him and the pack wasn’t mine. Then he hit me.” 

“And you said nothing to him other than asking for the bag?”

“No!”

“The workers made a statement that you said he had an incestuous relationship with his mother. That was what incited the beating.”

“I didn’t say anything to him…” Jack paused, remembering. “Okay, I cussed, but not at him. I cussed because I was hurt.”

“What did you say?” 

“Motherfucker.” Jack whispered. “I didn’t mean it! I wasn’t talking to him. Can’t you tell them it’s just a word?”

“Words have more import In Asgard. An insult like that is payable by death.”

Jack paled. “But he started it, he hit me! I hadn’t done anything. I just wanted my clothes. They locked me outside after and took away my blanket and bed and the rest of my clothes for no reason. And he called Corbin an abomination.”

“When did he do that? I need his exact words Jack.”

Jack shut his eyes to picture the moment. He trembled at the memory, remembering his helplessness and his fear he was going to die. He swallowed. Loki was going to be so pissed, but Jack didn’t want to be killed for nothing. He better tell his god everything.

“After he beat me up. He called me a,” Jack looked at the floor. “A filthy Jotun’s breeding bitch.” Jack cringed, but Loki said not a word or even twitched. “The woman told him to be quiet or he was gonna get hanged. Then he said. “I only say what everyone else feels. Have we fallen so low that an abomination stands to inherit the throne?” and then they went back to work. I hid under the table till they took it outside and then the women gave me my pants. That’s the truth. I’ll tell it in court and they will lose.”

Loki sighed. “No you will not.”

“Why not? How are you going to beat them, make them pay if I don’t say what really happened?”

“Because you cannot testify. First, you are a thrall and your word has no legal weight, it is automatically assumed you will lie. Second you are my thrall and so would be expected to tell a story that would clear me of any wrong doing. And third, you’d damn yourself by your own words. You did approach them in a state of undress. You spoke to a freeman as if he was your equal and asked for property you have no legal right to, going so far as to pull at said property. You also spoke an insult worthy of at least having your tongue cut out. At best I can plead ignorance on your part, but I am still libel for your actions.”

“But it was my stuff. I brought it with me.”

“You spoke with Thor about what it means to be a thrall, did he not mention you cannot own property? Or that you are not to speak to freemen unless given permission?” 

“Yeah the first part, but I thought that just meant like houses and cars, big stuff, not like clothes or the things I brought with me or stuff I make. No one said anything about not talking to people. You’ve never stopped me talking. I mean except those couple of times I pissed you off. This sucks. I can’t believe this shit. This asshole gets to beat the crap out of me, disrespects you and I get in trouble for it? And he gets paid for it. Asgard sucks. Your fucking culture sucks ass, Loki.”

“You may remain in New York and thus will no longer have to ascribe to the laws of Asgard, should you so wish. I am certain Stark will still make good on his offer. Corbin will, in a few years be competent enough in magic to make the trip here on their own. In the meantime Thor will be happy to bring them when he visits his… friends.”

“But how am I supposed to live?"

“I would ensure you have a stipend so you will not fall into poverty. As the mother of my child I owe you that much.”

“Owe me? Goddamn you! You owe me a hell of a lot more than a fucking brush off and a stinking paycheck. I don’t want your fucking guilt money.”

Loki stood up stiffly from the bed. 

“Very well. Nonetheless the money will be put in an account in your name should you decide otherwise. You may make petition for any other demands with the council.”

“You thrice cursed fucking liar! You promised me you wouldn’t throw me away! You promised! How the hell am I supposed to live?” Jack beat his hands on the bed, his claws tearing the sheets. He hooked a claw around his collar. “This says I’m yours and now you are going to abandon me? You knew what I was when you put this on me. You know damn well I can’t kiss ass and it didn’t stop you from carving your mark into my skin. You goddamned made me yours and you’re gonna have to live with it you fucking bastard.”

Loki paused in the doorway and looked at Jack, baffled. 

“You wish to remain my thrall? Even knowing now what that means in Asgard’s “suck ass” culture?”

“I don’t care. I’m yours. You promised.” 

Jack pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms and wings around them, his head tucked down. He was shaking with rage and hurt and felt like he was going to vomit, even though his stomach was achingly empty. 

“You are more trouble than you are worth. I have every right leave you here in the company of these mortal heroes.” Loki said.

Jack made a sound half way between a snarl and a sob and pulled his wings over his head.

“However, I keep my word, though others may name me liar.” Loki walked back to the bed. His fingers rubbed between Jack’s tensed shoulders, massaging the base of his back quills. “Also, I find you can be rather entertaining when you are not causing problems.”

Loki snatched his fingers away when Jack growled and twisted his head around, his fangs snapped shut on empty air.

“However little demon. You try to bite me again and you will, as the local saying goes “be carrying your teeth home in a bag.” Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Jack sang. 

“Will you now calm down and try to act as if you have the capacity for reason?”

Jack nodded and sniffed and folded his wings back though he still hugged his knees. He knew he had a rotten temper and in this form all his emotions were exaggerated. And his hunger acerbated everything.

“That was an offer of freedom, you little fool. Not an attempt to be rid of you.” Loki tugged at Jack’s hair and forced his head up. “When you are in Asgard you must follow the rules.”

Jack nodded again, “Tried. Don’t know the rules.” He sang in e minor to show his regret. “Hungry?” was a rising e major.

“Friday,” Loki said. “It would be best if the meal arrived promptly.”

“It is already on its way Your Highness. It should arrive within one minute.”

There was sound of a cart in the hall and Jack flared his nostrils and licked his long black tongue out the tip curling like a snake’s as he scented the air.  
Loki dropped his hand down to hold Jack’s collar. It was Stark himself who dismissed the waiter at the door, and pushed the cart inside. Jack was trilling in excitement as Stark removed the cover with a flourish. 

“Didn’t know what Olaf preferred so had the cafeteria send some of everything and he can…”

Stark jumped back as Jack impaled a roast roast with his claws and crunched the entire thing into his mouth. Loki released his collar seeing as Jack was focused on the cart and not the annoying human who had brought it in.

“Ah… I see the chicken is a hit. And the fish and the roast beef… Does he normally eat the bones? Uh Batboy… you might want to try unwrapping the butter…Okay then...”

Loki shook his head and removed the rest of the condiments. 

“Stay clear Stark. I’d hate for you to lose a hand.”

“Why doesn’t he go after you?”

“I’m his master and even in survival mode, he knows it.”

Jack wolfed down the fruit after he finished the meat and was picking over the vegetables trying to find something he could eat among them. The mashed potatoes disappeared. He took a bite of the salad and spit it out. He sniffed over the remained of the food, pushed the tray away and began to lick his hands clean.

“Not one for greens is he?”

“Not is this form.” Loki said “Have you had enough?” 

Jack sang a C major chord of agreement. He yawned, stretched and lay back down, closed his eyes and fell asleep to the sound of his master’s voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack is a mess. As usual. Mouthing off while promising he won't mouth off is a Jack classic.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talking with Stark. A proposal. Jack tries to deal. Unexpected Loki.

When Jack woke again it was to the sound of Corbin playing a game. They were hunched over their phone, in red and gold pajamas with "Iron Man" emblazoned on the legs, their dark hair falling loose around their face and their glossy wings half mantled. The morning sun struck iridescent purple and green highlights off the ebony feathers and showed the red undertones in their otherwise black hair. Jack smiled at their protective posture. Corbin was really enjoying the game.

“Hey little bird.” Jack said, his voice was rough and his throat dry.

Corbin waved a hand in his direction and continued playing.

“Nice to know where I stand in the hierarchy.” He thought with an internal laugh.

A moment later Corbin turned away from the game, their wings folded down over their back and they said in a near apology. 

“I was almost leveled up Papa.” 

“Good for you.” Jack croaked and pointed to the water jug on the nightstand.

Corbin filled a glass and handed it to Jack as he levered himself up into a seated position. Back to his normal state, Jack was happy to note. He didn’t really like the other two. Human was too weak and the ice people were in Jack’s opinion ugly as fuck. Good for defense, but harder to reason in that shape. He drank the water and turned until his feet were hanging off the bed. He felt stiff and a little sore but otherwise fine. There were no IV’s or leads attached this time, so his caretakers must agree with his assessment.

“How long have you been here?” Jack asked.

“Since breakfast, maybe a half hour.”

“I meant here in New York.”

“Two days. Uncle Thor brought me after I had supper and that was the day before, the day before yesterday. It's Thursday if that helps.”

“A little.”

Jack tried to put the days back in order but he couldn’t remember when they’d left for Egypt and the time in the cave was hard to calculate. The fight with the mages was a complete blur. The confrontation with Stark was the clearest memory, though that too ended in a blur of exhaustion.

“How are you being treated? Stark isn’t being an ass, is he?”

“No papa, Mr. Stark has been really nice and so has Ms. Potts. He gave me this new phone and downloaded a bunch of games on it and let me goto his lab. I got to help build a robot. His tech’s not as advanced as Sakaar or Asgard’s but he knows how it works. He makes it! He’s good at math, really good and he says I can do an internship. Can I?”

“I’d like to talk to Loki first. What about the whole prince of Asgard gig? Your magic lessons?”

“Loki says I’ve learned enough that can teach me. Both about magic and being a prince. Uncle Thor agreed.”

Jack noted that Loki was still Loki in Corbin’s mind, though Thor had moved to the ‘Uncle’ category. He shouldn’t be surprised. Loki wasn’t the easiest person to get to know. Jack was ‘Papa’ and Finlos had been ‘Daddy’ but ‘Father’ didn’t fit Loki somehow. Which made him wonder about Loki’s whereabouts. 

“How would they work that? Is Thor willing to bring you back and forth?”

“No, Papa, we’ll stay here.”

“Here with Stark? Are you sure?” 

Jack wasn’t certain who 'us' was, and the idea of Loki and Stark in close proximity was worrying. Loki in New York period, was a disaster waiting to happen. What if people saw him? There might be an arrangement with the Avengers and some politician,s but Loki was, no matter how he'd been influenced, the cause of an awful lot of deaths. The man on the street might not be so forgiving.

“What Little Bird?” Jack realized Corbin had answered him.

“Don’t call me that Papa, I’m not a baby. I said” Corbin dramatically sighed at the difficulty of parents who asked a question and then did not pay attention to the answer. “We aren’t staying with Mr. Stark. Loki has an apartment. We’re supposed to go there when Dr. Banner says you’re alright.”

“Ah. So where is Dr. Banner now?”

Corbin shrugged and picked their phone back up. The buzzes and beeps of the game filled the air. Their wings unfolded as they hunched over it and shielded the precious device in their hands. Jack wondered if they were doing it unconsciously, or if they were blocking the sunlight streaming through the window.

It was Friday who answered his question.

“Doctor Banner is at breakfast. Would you like breakfast also?” Jack nodded and ordered from a list of items Friday suggested. Corbin left to get dressed when Jack’s meal arrived. He had finished eating and was on his second cup of coffee when Banner appeared and started his examination asking Jack several questions. Jack tilted his head, remembering, and trying to put things together. 

“You turned green yesterday. Really green, not like sick green. And your face went all squidgy. Are you a shapeshifter too?”

“In a way.” Banner said. 

He seemed very uncomfortable about the subject. Jack thought about it for a while longer as his heart was listened to and he was instructed to stretch, cough, lift his arms, and perform other movements. 

“Wait a minute, are you the Hulk? Because he disappeared from Sakaar and no one ever saw him again. But he was here for the fight in the park.”

Banner lowered the tablet he was using to record Jacks stats. “You must be one of the few people on the planet who did not know that. I assumed Loki would have informed you.”

“No. Loki doesn’t tell me anything. I’m a freaking mushroom as far as he’s concerned.”

Banner raised an inquiring eyebrow.

“Keeps him in the dark and feeds him horseshit. Right Count Chochula?” Stark said as he breezed in, looking way too good in tight black jeans and an old ELO t-shirt.

“Yep Snark. Are you here to go onto round two, or is there an actual purpose to this visit?”

“You think you made it out of round one Olaf?”

“With a bargain basement Rickles like you? Pretty sure I did.” Jack smiled, baring his teeth.

“Oh no you did not...”

“Uh Tony. Could we not have a repeat of the last time?” Banner said. 

Stark shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. 

Jack glanced at Banner and nodded. “What did you want?” He asked Stark.

“Your kid’s smart. Really smart. Which is pretty amazing considering who their parents are.”

Jack growled. Banner gave Stark a look as he left the room. 

“So Robin, you might want to seriously reconsider letting them waste all that playing Space Vikings.”

“It’s up to Corbin. I just want to check with Loki first.” Jack tilted his head. “Besides I believe in tnstaafl.”

Stark raised an eyebrow. “Stranger is a Strange Land. Fitting. Let’s just say a tech savvy prince of Asgard could have its advantages.”

“Like having said prince indebted to you? And maybe open up a research exchange? A guy like you must be dying to get his hands on some of the space Viking magic-tech.”

“Less the bells and whistles. I don’t believe in magic. It’s just technology we don’t understand yet.” Stark was circling the room, looking over the unplugged machines.

“Yeah, right.” Jack ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t have anything against it honestly. Corbin loves to learn new things. You have a rep as a decent guy. But..”

“You have to get Rock of Ages to sign off on it.” Stark tapped Jack in the chest. “Still don’t know what you see in him.”

“Apart from his gorgeous hot body, eyes to get lost in, a voice that’s like silk on bare skin and godly stamina?” Jack said. “And I think I know how that whole horse myth got started, cause let me tell you he’s hung like…”

“Too much information!” Stark said raising his hands to cover his ears.

“… a fucking Clydesdale.” Jack shouted. 

“Way too much information.” Stark put his hands down and gave Jack his serious look.

“Says the guy who was panting over the demonic peep show.” 

Jack crossed his arms and grinned. Stark walked over and opened the upper drawer on the nightstand and poked through the contents.

“You want to tell me what that was all about? Not that it didn’t have its appeal, but it came out of left field.” 

“I needed power to do the location spell. I’m an incubus, well, half anyway and sex is the easiest energy for me to harness. I didn’t think it’d be real bright to try to tap into the little star you got on the roof and maybe blow everything to hell.”

Jack unfolded his arms and looked to see what Stark was messing with. He was taking out Jack's treasures and laying them on the top of the nightstand. Loki must have left them there.

“Hey don’t touch that! That’s mine!”

Something of the panic in his voice must have reached Stark because he turned around. Jack was already on his feet and he jerked the holo pack from Stark’s hand.

“Hey, no need to get grabby.”

Jack held the holos to his chest and squeezed between Stark and the contents of the drawer. He was breathing rapidly, his heart hammering and he could feel himself shaking. He blinked tears from his eyes.

“My things.” Jack said. “Mine.” Sweat was cold on his forehead and there was a low buzzing in his ears.

“Hey okay. I get it. I don’t like it when people touch my stuff.”

“They tried to throw it away. It’s all I have left and they tried to throw it away.” Jack could feel the room closing in around him. Feel the air getting thick and hard to breath. He gasped trying to force it into his lungs.

“I’m not going to throw anything away, Buddy. Friday get banner in here stat.”

“Doctor Banner is in his meditation room and has requested that he not be disturbed. Do you still wish me to call him?”

“Damn! No! Cancel that.”

“It’s alright.” Jack got out between pants. “I’m Okay.” He dropped into the chair and leaned forward. Pulled his knees up and wrapped his wings around himself. He rocked.

“You don’t look alright and you sure as hell don’t sound alright.” Stark said. “Friday give me a reading on Bat Boy's physicals.” 

“I’m detecting Mr. Linden has elevated levels of adrenaline, increased heart rate and respiration.”

“It’ll pass. Panic attack.” Jack panted. “Fuck! Hate this.”

“Yeah.” Stark said and awkwardly patted his wing. “They suck.”

Jack just nodded and concentrated on trying to slow his breathing. 

“Can I get you something?” 

“No. I’m Okay.” Jack stared at the floor and started counting the rows of loops in the carpet. Thirty-two rows of light grey, twenty-four of dark grey, twelve of black, thirty-two of light grey, twenty-four of dark grey, twelve of black, three repeats and then six of red. 

“You want me to get your kid?”

“Fuck no. I don’t want him to see me like this.” Jack tucked his head down, folded his wings tighter. Counted. 

“Yeah, bad idea. You consider therapy? You know I wasn’t a fan but Pepper insisted and … It couldn’t hurt.”

“Right. Maybe I could go to a group meeting hmm? Monsters Anonymous. Hi, my name is Jack and I’m a murderous cowardly demon.” he gave a laugh that was a too sharp. “Just, just leave me alone.” Jack sunk his claws into his forearms, Stark’s nattering, well intended as it was, was setting him off again and he needed the pain to hold on. “Please.”

“Look I really don’t like leaving you here alone.” Stark said. “Friday, put a call into Reindeer Games and tell him...” 

“No! Don’t! Go away! Shut up and go away!” If Loki was called back, saw him like this, knew what a pathetic fuck he was, he’d leave him. Throw him away. He was total garbage. He could hear Loki’s dismissive tones. “Indulging yourself in a fit of self-pity. Again.” 

Jack hugged his knees to his chest, the holo pack pressed into his belly, his tail tucked tight between his legs and coiled around his arm. The diamond tip was close to his lips and he sunk his teeth into the leathery skin. He shut his eyes tight. The pain a flickering light in the strangling darkness. 

Stark said something else but Jack couldn’t hear him through the roaring in his ears. His heart was racing again and he was shaking in shame. “Stop it!” He screamed in his own mind. “Stop being such a fool!”

He could taste blood, smell blood. He was covered in it, the teenager lay sprawled on the basement floor choking out his last breath. The guard’s eyes bore into his as blood spurted over the wall. The mage gasped as she was ripped open, her entrails spilling hot over his hand.

"No." Jack whispered. "Please no."

Music pounded in his ears, loud discordant and a smiling face looked down on him with golden eyes. “Hey Kitty you didn’t think, didn’t think I’d let you get away, did you? I love the sculpture you made me.” The Grandmaster smiled behind his oxygen mask and leaned back in his wheelchair, waving one IV implanted arm toward the wall. Corbin was spread out like an anatomy exhibit, split open from groin to throat, organs pinned to the wall, the lungs took in a breath, pink and glistening. Corbin’s mouth opened and he gasped, “Papa, it hurts, make it stop.” 

Jack screamed, slashed at the silver haired monster leering down at him, staggered toward his child... who melted into the wall..into the floor.

Corbin was gone and Jack was standing in the treatment room, his hands on the unmarked wall. Panting and covered in sweat. He blinked. Took a long shuddering breath. The fear dulled, seeped away with the hallucination leaving him shaky and fragile feeling as if his bones would poke through his skin if he moved too quickly. He heard Stark clear his throat behind him. 

“I’m sorry.” Jack said. “I…” He shook his head, he could not bring himself to turn around. “Please, tell me I didn’t hurt you.”

“Naw, didn’t even scratch the paint.” Stark said. “You going to be okay?”

“Yeah, Sorry, that was … I haven’t had one that bad…” Jack stopped. “I better leave. Before I do anything else embarrassing. I guess I need a cab, we’ll need a cab.” Jack corrected. He could not say Corbin’s name. He was afraid it would somehow make the nightmare real. “Would you call one?”

“I’ll have my driver take you. You might to get dressed first. There’s clothes in the lower drawer and the shower is through that door.”  
Jack nodded. “I know. Thanks, I ... please don’t tell Loki about this.”

“Somebody should know. Cap has a friend who deals with this kind of thing. I’ll give you his number.”

“Stark please. I can’t. Let it go. I can’t right now.”

Jack maneuvered around Stark, keeping his head down and went into the bathroom shutting the door.

He pulled off the sleep pants, wondered who had put them on him, and then got into the shower. The warm water washed away the sweat, and the hollow feeling. When he got out the room was empty. He quickly dressed and packed his things into his pack, which apparently Loki, or maybe Thor, had rescued. Friday directed him to an elevator and when it opened he saw Corbin talking to a big white guy in a suit. His relief was so intense at seeing Corbin unharmed and chattering away, his knees buckled and he ended up sitting on the floor.

“Papa?” Corbin called as he hurried over with the big man. “Are you alright?”

“Fine. I’m a little light headed, give me a sec.” He smiled up at his child. The big man walked over, looked down, hesitated for a moment. Jack pushed himself back up the wall before he could extend his hand. The guy looked relieved. 

“Ready?” 

"Yes" Jack said and followed him to a blacked out limo. 

The ride was longer then Jack expected. Not because of distance but because of traffic.The streets were packed with taxis, buses and cars, bike riders raced around the slow moving vehicles with little regard for their own safety. Corbin was engrossed in looking at the buildings and people and shot the chauffeur question after question. The man was remarkably patient in answering them and Jack was glad to listen. He knew very little about the enormous city. They pulled up next to an Art Nouveau building topped by a two story weathered copper mansard roof. Jack was taking in the details when the driver tuned around and said.

“You might want to do something about your appearance.”

Jack broke out of his perusal of the architecture to weave a simple glamor over himself and Corbin which concealed their inhuman features. The man simply nodded. They departed the limo and it pulled back into the heavy traffic.

Jack followed Corbin across the first floor, past a druggist to a small steel door. He watched while Corbin punched in a code then placed his hand flat on the blank square below it. The door slide back and a short walk through a dingy corridor, another coded panel and they were riding up to the top floor of the building. Corbin was excited about the apartment and peppered Jack with questions. Jack just shrugged. He couldn’t think of anything to say, he didn’t know if they were to stay here alone or if Loki was staying with them. How the placed looked made little difference to him.

The elevator let onto a short hallway with only one door. The soft warm lighting from stained glass wall sconces, textured cream walls, russet wood wainscoting and a carpet of delicate green intertwining vines, gave the hall the air of an earlier time. The door was a masterpiece of carving in the same style, depicting a tree with coiling roots and spreading branches. Normally Jack would have been entranced with the design, but at the moment, it held little charm for him. The door opened and before them and they entered. 

The room was brightly lit, high ceilinged with an eclectic collection of furniture. Jack only had eyes for the tall man standing in the center of the bohemian splendor. He stayed at the entrance as Corbin bounced around the room, looking out the windows and running his hands over the soft materials. At a query about the location of his bedroom Loki waved Corbin through an arch.

“Are you planning on coming inside or do you intend to hover in the doorway for the rest of the day?” loki asked Jack

Jack quickly shut the door behind him and walked toward Loki. 

“Stark called and mentioned that you had some difficulty this morning.”

“It was nothing.” Jack silently cursed Stark. 

“What he described did not sound like, nothing.”

“I’m fine. Stark exaggerates.” Jack could feel his heart rate increase.

“Jack if there is going to be a problem...”

Jack cut in. “I know. You don’t have time for it. There is no problem. Nothing to cause you trouble.” 

He felt his tail lash across his ankles. Glanced down. He’d dropped his glamor. Damn it. He could feel his wings starting to mantle protectively. He forced them to fold back down, held his tail still. He was not going to do this again. He closed his hands into fists the tips of his claws biting into the palms.

“So,” Jack said, desperate to change the subject. “Did Stark tell you he wants Corbin to intern with him?”

Loki had crossed over to him. Jack could feel his gaze. He studied the tops of Loki’s polished shoes. A different pair then the ones he wore in Egypt. Loki’s hand slipped under Jack’s hair, grasped his collar and gave it a tug.

“Come, walk with me and we will discuss this. I have no initial objections to Stark’s proposal.”

There was a click as Jack’s leash was attached, another tug from the front ring, and Jack sighed. The panic released him. Jack took a shaky breath and leaned against his owner. He was safe. He was home. Loki indulged him for a moment, then moved away. Jack walked half a pace behind him. It was alright now, he could breath again. The shadows retreated and he listened to Loki relay how Corbin would be spending each morning learning magic. There was room in his schedule for a few hours in the afternoon he could allot to Stark’s tutorage and they could discuss politics after dinner. Loki walked him past a kitchen, an elegant dining room, a small library and Corbin’s room, where they were presently playing a game on a wide screen TV. A beautifully detailed, circular iron staircase led to the upper floor. When he stepped off the top stair Jack stopped, the leash going tight and halting Loki as well.

“Is something wrong?” Loki asked.

“No I… I didn’t…” He ran out of words.

Pale winter light streamed in across a large table scattered with candles, books and Loki’s magical apparatus. A shelf overflowed with bottles and jars and various organic ingredients. But that was no what froze Jack’s feet to the floor. Beyond the familiar jumble, stood an easel, with a large blank canvas in place. A box of paints stood beside it on a stand. Brushes and painting knives clustered neatly in a brush holder, while pallets lay in their own compartment. More primed canvases leaned against the wall. A drawing table was angled to catch the sun. Cups of pencils, charcoals and quill pens were lined up at the top while a pad of fine paper lay ready to use. There was a crowded bookcase on the far wall and Jack could just make out the names Caravaggio, Van Gogh and Rackham on the spines of the largest books.

Loki’s forefinger slid under Jack’s chin and he lifted it, closing the demon’s gaping mouth..

“I see it meets your approval.” Loki's chuckle was gentle as a caress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack had trauma he will not admit to. Happy Harold Hogan does not want to touch a demon. Understandable. he's a good Catholic. He is however, happy to answer angelic Corbin's curious questions. Loki can be nice when he feels like it. Added bonus, an employed Jack has a better chance of staying out of trouble.


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day in the life. A little angst, a little crack.

Jack spent the morning doing colors studies for harbor picture he’d sketched in Egypt while he listened to a mix of traditional Bouzouki music. Loki and Corbin were working nearby and he occasionally looked up to see the tow of them bent over a book or mixing up some exotic potion. As the morning wore on however he became more engrossed in his own work. He had just finished sketching his final design onto the canvas and stepped back to evaluate it, when he became aware of Corbin tugging on his wing. He pulled on an earbud and put the vine charcoal down. 

“What?”

“Lunch is here Papa.”

“Thank you, Little Bird.”

“Papa!” Jack caught Corbin up in a hug and kissed his cheek.

“You will always be my Little Bird, Corbin.” 

Corbin struggled free and Jack laughed and followed his child downstairs. 

Loki looked disapproving when Jack walked into the kitchen and headed toward the cartons of Chinese food on the small table. 

“Jack, go wash. You are filthy.” Loki said. 

Jack glanced down. His hands and arms were spotted with paint and smeared with charcoal, as were his clothes. Damn! He should have changed them before he started. He always forgot to, which was why his good clothes quickly became his paint clothes. 

“How did you get paint all over your face?” 

Jack shrugged, rubbed his nose and went to wash up. When he returned he loaded his plate and sat cross legged at Loki’s feet. 

“You don’t need to do that.” Loki said watching as Jack split his chopsticks in two.

“It’s okay, I’m used to using chopsticks.”

“You don’t have to sit on the floor any longer.”

“Oh.”

Corbin was sitting beside Loki which left the other side of the table for Jack. He glanced up at Loki, bit his lip, then reluctantly got up and took an empty chair. It didn’t feel right. Leaning against Loki’s shins was how he got most of his physical contact. He was used to sitting there while his owner worked or read and especially when they ate. He’d spent the last few days out of contact as well as this morning. Instead of feeling proud that he the right to eat at the table again, Jack felt bereft. He picked at the food he no longer had an appetite for. Corbin finished his meal quickly and disappeared into his room with a handful of fortune cookies and one of Loki’s books. 

As soon as he was gone, Jack grabbed his plate and returned to the floor by Loki’s feet. Loki dropped his hand to Jack’s head and ran his fingers through his hair. Jack sighed. Content. He ate quietly, his hunger returned.

“You have bits of paint in your hair. Are you always this messy?”

“Yeah, I guess. It’s not something I think about."

“Yet your paint box is neat and I notice you are careful about cleaning your brushes.”

“Of course, those are my tools.” Jack looked up at Loki. “You have your stuff strung all over the table and your books are everyplace and the labels are gone from half of your jars. That would drive me crazy.”

“The practice of true magic is an art. It is more intuitive then slavishly copying a formula.”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Nah. You’re just a slob.”

“This from a beast who has managed to get paint in between his wings.” Loki said pulling a drop off Jack’s back. “You have no room to criticize.”

“Come off it. You might dress to the nines but this place looks like a magpie had an affair with a packrat. I think half the reason you made me your thrall is to have someone pick up after you.”

“You are correct in that. You may rise and clear away the mess.” Loki jerked on his collar and Jack climbed to his feet. 

“And Jack.” Jack paused. “It would be better if you resumed taking your meals on the floor. I think you are in danger of forgetting your place.” 

“Yes my lord.” Jack said bowing dramatically and grinning.

Loki through an empty carton at him.

Jack cleaned up the kitchen and went upstairs meaning to work on the painting but Loki motioned him into his rooms. He’d not bothered to explore them after being shown the studio, and he was not allowed time to give them more than a cursory glance now. There was a front room with a wardrobe and a dressing table and he glimpsed a bathroom off to the side. Loki motioned him into the bedroom proper. A large bed took up most of the space but it was the warding that caught Jacks attention. It wasn’t a standard safety warding, but something different.

“What is this?” Jack asked as he traced the invisible runes which held the magic embedded in the walls.

“A privacy spell. No one will be able to see or hear anything which happens here.”

“Okay, but what if Corbin needs me?”

“The spell is one way, it would be rather foolish were it not.” Loki said and he guided Jack over to sit on the bed. “I allowed you to distract me this morning, Jack I could see you were still upset, however, now is the time for the truth. What happened with Stark? While he may indulge himself in a low form of comedy he is not given to dramatics.”

“It was nothing, he was pawing through my stuff and I...it … I didn’t like it. I overreacted a little.”

“When I quested the accuracy of his observations, he sent me the recording from your room. That was not a slight overreaction.” 

Jack dropped his gaze and began to study the pattern in the carpet, an intricate one, with vines and flowers and fruit and large five lobed leaves. He slowed his breathing. 

“Sometimes I get like that. When a lot of things happen. I get… I can’t think… and I…” 

Loki, Jack thought, was going to be disappointed, was going to be angry, was already showing signs of irritation, there was tension in his hands the way his body went still and stiff. Jack bit his lip, not knowing how to tell the truth and not have Loki see how weak he was, how stupid. Loki crossed his arms and Jack flinched and tried for damage control.

“It was only the one time. I promise it won’t happen again. I promise. Please, don’t be angry with me.”

“I am not angry, I am trying to understand. I do not want reassurances. I want the truth.”

“He was touching my things and I couldn’t bear it Loki. I was afraid he might try to take them away. Take away my only things from Sakaar. Corbin’s pictures and recordings and his baby feathers, my family pictures and Finlos’ letters. It’s all I have left.” Jack had to fight to keep his voice from rising. 

“What letters? I saw no letters. Have you checked to sure all of your mementos were returned?”

Jack swallowed. Why would Loki not leave it alone? He hated this curiosity into his private business, hated that his heart was starting to race and that it was getting harder to breathe. 

“Yes. I have everything. They were more notes, then letters.” Jack pressed his hands together and dug his claws into his palms. He followed the twisting vines and started counting how many fruits or flowers there were before the pattern repeated. “I’m alright now.” 

“It is apparent that you are not. What is wrong? Tell me.”

Jack took a desperate breath, his chest felt like it was being crushed. 

“I can’t! I can’t!”

“Why not?”

“Cause I don’t know what’s wrong.” Jack whispered and crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“You are an idiot.” Loki said and pulled Jack onto his lap, holding him against his chest. Jack turned into the embrace and clung to Loki, shivering. He could hear Loki’s heartbeat, feel his breath warm against his scalp as he kissed the top of Jack’s head. 

“You are safe here. None can harm you. I will not allow it.” 

Jack let his owner’s word’s sink in.

“You don’t have to speak. Just squeeze if you agree with what I say.”

Jack hugged Loki tighter and then relaxed his hold.

“Good beast. When this happens you become alerted as if there is a danger at hand?”

Hug. 

“You feel as if you have run a very long distance?”

Jack had to think about it, he’d never been much of a runner, but the symptoms were similar. He squeezed Loki.

“You feel the need to flee or to fight? And you see threats where none exist?”

“Yes. Sometimes when it’s bad…” Jack opened his eyes but stayed where he was, feeling the rise and fall of Loki's chest. “I see things, bad things.”

“Memories?” Loki asked sharply. 

Jack heard his heart beat faster. He squeezed Loki not only in confirmation but to let him know that he was here.

“Sometimes, but mixed up with things I’m afraid of happening.” Jack trembled, trying not think of the last hallucination. “Only the bad ones. Only if I get lost in it.” 

“Lost? Like when you are drawing and do not notice anything around you?” Loki’s heart slowed back down.

“I guess so. I never thought of it like that.” Jack sighed feeling more of his anxiety bleeding away. Loki’s observation made sense.

“These things you see, have they ever come true?” Loki asked. “Are they prophetic visions?”

Jack jerked back in terror and his hands flew to cover Loki’s mouth.

“NO!” he shouted. “NO! Take it back! Don’t say that!” He tried to shove Loki down on the bed.

Loki grasped Jacks wrists and pushed his hands away. Blood beaded around his mouth where Jack’s claws had dug in. Jack tried to pull away from his hold, struggling to his feet, his wings beating frantically as if he could take flight in the enclosed space, his pupils pin pricked in panic.

Loki wrestled the struggling demon back onto the bed, pinning him belly down where he could do no harm to either of them. He held him there, laying across his back, until Jack finally calmed down. Loki rolled off and Jack immediately tucked into his side.

“Where you trying to have me live up to the appellation scar lip?” Loki asked sardonically touching a finger to the cuts. He stroked Jack’s back to take away the sting of his words. “I take it you had a particularly bad vision?”

Jack whimpered.

“Then I shall not insist you repeat it. But I will insist you go see the Captain’s friend.” He tilted Jack’s chin up so their eyes met. “I cannot be for you, in this, as Thor was for me.” 

When Jack tried to turn his head away, squeezing his eyes shut to hide the pain that Loki’s words evoked, Loki held him firm. 

“Not because I do not care for you little beast, but because I am not capable of such things.”

“But he is only a human. How can he know how to fix this shit in my head?”

“According to Stark he is an expert in these things. He has also fought with the Avengers. He has seen worse things, than one temperamental little demon.”

“Alright.” Jack said.

“Good. I shall contact him and make the necessary arrangements. Now wash your face, you look a mess, and change into your human shape. We are going out. You need some decent clothing, as you have ruined this outfit and Corbin should know their way around this city. Staying inside too long is not good for any of us.”

******

Jack washed, changed and changed into jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt which fitted his human form. Unfortunately these clothes were also paint stained. He was what he was and Loki would have to get used to it. Loki had cast an illusion over Corbin to make him appear human, but he himself had shapeshifted. Jack gave him the once over and darted his tongue over his lips.

Loki smirked at Jack’s obvious approval. “It is an appearance I have worn in the past.”

Jack nodded enthusiastically. “You look great.”

Loki’s hair was a fiery ginger that curled around his ears and brushed his shoulders and he sported a scruff of beard that Jack wanted to nuzzle. His features were sharper and his nose and cheeks were dusted with freckles. Only his sparkling eyes remained the same emerald hue. With his sassy grin he looked like mischief on the hoof. Jack wanted to strip off his dark suit and nail him on the living room floor. 

Loki chuckled and donned an overcoat and scarf. He looked at Jack’s light clothing and lack of a coat and shook his head at the demon's lack of preparation for Norway’s cold. Jack was susceptible to low temperatures when he took the human shape, more so then even true humans. It was a legacy from his succubus mother, a creature native to warm climes. Luckily today was relatively mild for a New York December and Thor had left a coat behind. It hung off of Jack’s shoulders, the sleeves covered his hands and the hem reached to his knees. They headed out, Corbin bracketed between them to prevent anyone accidentally bumping into his wings.

The afternoon passed quickly. Jack gawked like a tourist and Loki threatened to put a leash on him if he didn’t stop pausing every few yards to stare at some new marvel. Loki got Jack and Corbin outfitted to his specifications. Corbin dragged them into a music store and talked Loki into buying him an electric guitar, amp and playing lessons. Loki purchased a Stratocaster solely because the name amused him, the brilliant red was Corbin’s choice. They had supper at a Greek restaurant and then Loki took them to an eclectic variety of small stores. He purchased some pungent smelling spices at an Asian grocery, a scarf for Corbin and a brightly colored rug from a street vendor selling hand woven textiles and five pounds of imported chocolates at an elegant candy store. 

Their last stop was an occult supply place where Loki bought beeswax candles, organic herbs and several types of dried fungus. It became an impromptu herbology lesson as Loki questioned them both about the uses of the different plants. The proprietor kept trying to correct Loki right up until he produced a tiny green flame that leapt from bottle to bottle as he spoke. While the now silent man was wrapping Loki’s purchases, Jack was amused to find a candle jar labeled with Loki’s name. It was decorated with an image that resembled the guise Loki was now wearing and a ring of runes. As Jack was paying for it the man suddenly looked from the image to where Loki was standing the winter sun making a halo around his head. His eyes widened and Jack grinned, allowing his teeth to lengthen slightly and his eyes to shift to a brighter inhuman shade of cobalt. The man’s sharp cry caught Loki’s attention and he gave Jack a warning look. Jack immediately resumed a fully human appearance, took his bag from the stunned man’s hand and followed Loki out the door. 

“That was not well advised.”

“And making an animated flame was?”

“He had already convinced himself it was only a slight of hand, before you pulled your little stunt.”

“Then he’ll convince himself I was wearing contacts and fake fangs. He was being an asshole earlier. He needed a good scare.”

“What did you buy?” 

“Something for my altar.”

“You have an altar?"

"Not just yet, but I intend to set one up. I am after all your high priest.”

“You were on Sakaar, little demon. There are many on earth who would challenge your claim.”

“How many of them have you…” Jack trailed off, Corbin was attentively listening to their conversation. 

Loki came to his rescue. “Does it not seem redundant to pray to your deity when you can simply ask me?”

“It’s my religion so I worship you how I decide. Benefit of being the high priest, I wrote the doctrine.”

“So the god has no say in how he is worshiped?” 

“Nah. Your job is to do the godding stuff and mine is to tell people how to worship you.”

“Godding stuff?”

“Granting prayers, preforming miracles, smiting your worshiper’s enemies. That kind of thing.”

“It seems rather a one sided relationship. What do I get out of it?”

“Bragging rights to your fellow gods? The fun of smiting? The adoration of thousands? How should I know, I’m not a god.”

“You have a rather peculiar take on religion. I’m never sure when you are serious or when you are jesting.”

“If it’s any comfort. Neither am I.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody likes mansplaining. My other fics are giving me fits right now.


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A whole lot of talking and a walk.

When the trio returned to the apartment, Corbin spent the hour before bedtime trying out the guitar, wearing the headphones that allowed them to play without disturbing the neighbors. The amp would be delivered after Corbin learned the spells to sound proof their room. Rune work was one of the duller branches of magic and Loki knew the reward would help keep the child focused.

After Corbin went to bed, Jack set up a makeshift altar on his drawing table, using one of Loki’s scarves and the new candle. He lit the candle, softly chanted a prayer, and then put a smuggled piece of baklava on the altar. 

“I pray you accept my offering and find it good, oh my lord.” Jack said.

Loki was working nearby and watched Jack with an amused smirk. He drifted over and popped the honey soaked dessert in his mouth.  
“Mmm… almond. Not bad, but I prefer the chocolate drizzled walnut.”

“You ate all of those at dinner, my god, so you’ll have to make do.”

“You show a distinct lack of reverence, little demon. It does not predispose me to answering your prayers. Nor does dripping crumbs on my scarf.” 

Loki sucked honey off his fingers, his eyes half closed, smiling as Jack twitched at each soft lip smack and tongue swipe. 

“And here I thought you prized irreverence, being the god of mischief and all.” 

Jack was trying for sassy but the flush of red across his cheeks belied his words.

There was a smear of honey on Loki’s thumb and he pressed it to Jack’s lips. Jack gave a low moan and took the digit into his mouth, licking his tongue across the sticky sweetness. He closed his eyes in pleasure and sucked, reaching for Loki’s arm and wrapping his fingers around the woolen sleeve of his suit. Jack gave a purring whimper when Loki’s fingers curled around his jaw and he pushed his face against his owner’s hand begging for more. Just as the heat was coiling in his groin and his cock starting to stiffen, Loki pulled his hand away. Jack made an inarticulate sound of protest and his eyes snapped open, his lips still parted in hunger.

“What is the matter little beast, I thought you prized mischief?” 

“You bastard!” 

Loki’s satisfied chuckle both infuriated Jack and sent a thrill down his spine. He watched in frustration as Loki returned to his work. Realizing Loki had no intention of giving Jack any more attention he got up and headed toward the bathroom. 

“Jack.” Loki said without turning his head. “Don’t think to touch yourself.”

“Fuck!” Jack spat and slammed the door shut. 

He splashed cold water on his heated face. Once he calmed down Jack changed back into demi demon and put on his modified pajamas. It was his default state now and his body would shift to it as soon as he fell asleep anyway. There was no sense in ripping out the seams in yet another shirt. He glared at Loki’s back as he swept past and clambered down the stairs to the library. He wasn’t going to work on the painting anymore tonight, not with Loki radiating sexual attraction at him with every breath. He searched through the library for something he could read, and settled on a history book of northern Europe. It was annotated with Loki’s scathing remarks and corrections in the margins, thankfully in English, and Jack returned upstairs already engrossed in a very different version of history then he’d learned in school.

When he entered their bedroom there was a huge dog bed on the floor next to Loki’s four poster with sheets, blankets and a pillow folded in the center and ‘Jack’ was embroidered on its front edge. A stylized bone was appliqued under it. Jack wasn’t sure whether be pissed or amused. He decided on amused and spread out the bedding and lay down, his back propped against the thick padded rim. It was actually quite comfortable with a real mattress, instead of a thin pad and he found his eyes drooping shut after a few minutes. He yawned, put his book away, curled up under the blankets, and fell into a deep dreamless sleep. 

******

It was dawn when Jack awoke to the almost silent buzzing of the alarm on his Stark phone. There was a louder sound, the low rumble of Thor’s snoring and Jack was a little surprised to have slept through both his arrival and the usual rambunctious love making the brothers preceded their nights with. He stretched, got up and quietly left the two sleeping gods, after a quick glance to see Loki tucked into Thor’s side, his dark hair spread over his brother’s broad chest. Corbin was already awake, plunking at their guitar while looking at one of the instructional apps. Jack made himself breakfast, cleared away his and Corbin’s dishes and was sitting at the table working on his second cup of coffee when Corbin dropped into the chair across from him. His earphones were out and he had a troubled look on his face.

“Yes?” Jack asked hoping this wasn’t going to be a question about Jack’s relationship with Loki, or worse something about playing the guitar, a subject of which he knew nothing.

“Uncle Thor came here last night.”

That was a statement and only required a nod. It was to be expected that Corbin could feel the energy disturbance of the bifrost and knew it meant the arrival of Thor.

“He’s Loki’s brother.”

“Yes Corby, you know that. They are brothers in all but blood.” 

Jack had never kept any secrets about Loki’s Jotun heritage or his own parentage from Corbin. He wanted his kid to know the truth, not shelter him from it.

“But Uncle Thor and Loki are having sex.” Corbin’s brow furrowed. 

“Well damn.” Jack thought. “I should have known Corbin would figure it out. They’re not stupid and they carry my incubus blood. I’d hoped they would have more time before that inheritance raised its head. Living under the same roof with two fornicating gods would be hard to miss.”

“That’s their business. Not ours.”

“But Papa, what about..”

“Corbin. We are not judge and jury to decide the right or wrong of another’s relationships. They are adults and they are not harming anyone.”

“But, Papa…”

“No buts, Corbin. We don’t discuss other people’s private business. Do you understand?”

“Yes, but.."

“Corbin! That is enough! Drop it.” Jack growled.

“Why won’t you listen to me?” Corbin cried. “You always listened to me before and now you won’t! You sound just like him!”

There was no doubt which ‘him’, Corbin was talking about. Jack took a deep breath. Of all the things he wanted Loki to teach him, being an asshole to his kid was not one of them.

“I’m sorry Corbin, you are right. Tell me what is bothering you.”

******

The sound of one of Corbin’s games at full volume told Jack of they were still upset. He should probably go tell Corbin to turn it down, before they woke up the gods upstairs, if the door slam hadn’t already. Jack decided to finish his coffee first. Maybe he should let Loki deal with this one.

It was Thor’s heavy tread on the stairs that took the decision out of his hands. He gave Jack a scowl and walked to Corbin’s room. A quick knock, an open door, a few words and the volume dropped. Thor poured himself a cup of coffee and Jack went to the stove, turned on the burner and then opened the fridge. 

“Ham and eggs okay? And French toast?” 

 

“It is not necessary that you cook for me.” Thor said.  
He leaned a hip on the table and adjusted his robe. It was one of Loki’s and too tight across Thor’s shoulders. It only covered him, because Loki loved the luxury of draping himself with yards of silk. 

“It is necessary. I cook, I clean, I’d pick up your brother’s dry cleaning if he used a cleaners. You are a guest therefore you get fed.” Jack dropped butter in the pan and added ham and eggs. He started on the French toast while Thor watched.

“What did you do that upset Corbin?” Thor asked.

Jack’s tail twitched. Of course it was what did I do? Never what anyone else might have done.

“A little parenting. Something his royal magicness needs to get off his ass and do once in a while.”

“You are not one to throw accusations of neglect. How many hours have you spent in their company the past few weeks? Five, six?”

“And whose fault is that? When I’m not playing housemaid and laborer, I’m being hauled all over the world to be used as a poker chip or a truffle hound. Or getting the crap beat out of me by his enemies.”

Jack threw the egg soaked bread into the pan as if it had personally offended him. 

“You could always leave. Asgard’s laws have no hold here.” 

“For fuck’s sake what is with you two? Can’t a guy bitch without you jumping right to ‘then end it.’? Relationships are not all or nothing. There is such a thing as compromise. And even whining to get it out of your system. You act like your parents never fought.”

“They did not.” Loki said from the stairs. Jack glanced up and swore under his breath. No one should look that good with bed hair and rumpled pajamas. “Odin made the decisions and Frigga supported him.”

“What, your mom never disagreed?”

“It is the Queen’s job to uphold the King.” Thor said.

“I’m not talking about kings and queens here, I’m talking about your mother and father.” Jack said taking the kettle off the back burner and filling the teapot. 

Thor looked momentarily confused. “Father was the king, mother was the queen.”

“And they were always that, first.” Loki added, sitting down and swiping a piece of ham off Thor’s plate. “No matter how she felt on the subject she would not openly countermand Odin’s orders. She could be quite good at defending them.” Loki said bitterly.

“Ah.” Jack said as he reloaded the skillet, this was a can of worms he had not meant to open.

“She had our best interests in mind.” Thor stated. Jack knew from his tone he considered the matter closed. 

“Did she?” Loki asked viciously “Or was she more interested in keeping the peace at any cost?” 

Thor made a low growl like distant thunder and into the rising quarrel Jack said.

“Corbin knows you two are fucking.”

Not the best way to state it, but it stopped the argument cold as both brothers stared at him. In the silence the beeping noises of Corbin’s game were suddenly loud. Jack shoveled Loki’s breakfast on his plate and dropped it on the table and retreated to the sink with the dirty pan.

“This is why you should not have trusted the beast.” Thor snarled, rising to his feet. “He cannot keep his mouth shut.”

“Jack,” Loki said at the same time, standing up beside his brother. “Why did you tell Corbin?”

Jack turned his back to them, put the hot pan in the water and scrubbed it with unnecessary violence. “I didn’t. You did.” 

“That is a lie, I said nothing to them and neither would Loki.” Thor said. “Do you think to drive a wedge between us?”

“Yes, of course I’m lying. I told Corbin just to be an asshole. Why not make life more difficult for everybody? That would really pay off for me wouldn’t it?” Jack slammed the pan into the drainer, cracking one of the plates and sending a cup bouncing across the floor.  
“Why the fuck doesn’t this place have a goddamned dishwasher?” Jack yelled.

He turned to see Thor with his fists bunched trying to pull away from Loki.

“Am I the only rational man here?” Loki cried. “Jack shut up! Thor calm yourself.”

Jack opened his mouth to snarl an answer and saw movement in the corner of his eye. Corbin stood in the doorway of their bedroom, their eyes wide. Jack’s shoulders slumped, and the anger turned into a cold lump of shame in his belly. 

“Damn.” Jack said. 

Thor and Loki both followed his gaze. Corbin darted back into his room and shut the door. 

“Shit!’ said Loki. 

Thor huffed out a breath and rubbed his hand over his face.

Loki pushed Thor toward a chair. “Sit.”

He walked over to Jack, grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the table and shoved him into a chair. Loki then picked up his teacup and poured himself a cup of tea while Jack and Thor watched each other uneasily.

“As much as it pains me to do so, I see I must be the reasonable one.” Loki through clenched teeth. “And both of you will pay for forcing me into this position.” 

Loki took a sip of tea, rolled his shoulders and loosened his neck before continuing.

“Jack, if you did not tell Corbin, then how did they learn of our, arrangement?”

Jack saw Thor wince at the word ‘arrangement’ and took a petty satisfaction in it. 

“As I said, you told him.” Jack pressed is lips together at Thor’s low grumble. 

“Do not play games, little demon.”

“It’s the truth. Your bedroom might be warded from sight and sound, but you didn’t ward it from leaking magic.”

“I did not see the necessity, as I do not intend to perform spell work there. There is no seidr expended in coupling.”

Jack and Thor both twitched at Loki’s dispassionate description.

“Not to a mage, but to an incubus there is a lot of psychic energy.” Jack said. “You two glow like a bonfire and there is no mistaking what you’re doing. I had hoped that particular legacy hadn’t been passed down to Corbin, or if it had, it would have waited a few more years before manifesting.”

“I had not considered that aspect, it was remiss of me. I would assume they came to you to express their disgust?”

“Not disgust, more like concern. Corbin wasn’t worried about you two screwing.” Jack said.

“If they are not bothered by our unnatural affection, then what is it?” Loki said.

“That’s enough Loki.” Thor said. “I don’t like to hear you speak in such a manner.”

“Even if it is true?”

“Corbin doesn’t care about that.” Jack said “Sakaar doesn’t have a lot of taboos, too many different species and cultures to begin to make up a set of rules about people’s personal lives."

“Then what is their concern?” Thor said, cutting across Loki’s agitation.

Jack paused. Shook his head. 

“Corbin is worried that it will split us apart. Me and you,” Jack said to Loki. “Or even you and Thor. Because of the problems when Finlos took Hilja for his wife. I was jealous of her. We fought a lot and because I couldn’t get over my jealousy Finlos divorced me. I tried to tell Corbin it wouldn’t happen again but… They don’t believe me.”

“I think it would be best if we brought Corbin out to discuss this.” Thor said.

“To what purpose? To drag them into this, this…” Loki seemed for once at a loss for words.

“This family they are a member of?” Jack said. 

Thor and Loki looked at Jack with the same incredulous expression. 

“ _We_ are not... Thor started.

“I’m Corbin’s mother.” Jack paused, hating to use that term. “Loki is Corbin’s father and you are their uncle.” Jack said. “That makes us family whether or not you two want to acknowledge it.” 

Loki sighed. “We’ve never been very good at communication.” 

“Perhaps it is time we learned.” Thor said. 

****** 

It wasn’t the easiest of conversations, nor entirely satisfactory to any of them but it was a start. Thor returned to New Asgard afterward. Corbin and Loki worked on magic theory and Jack returned to the bayside picture. 

It was interesting to hear Loki carefully explaining the principles of spellcasting, and Corbin’s eager intelligent questions. To Jack’s surprise Loki was a good teacher. He didn’t lose his temper and patiently corrected Corbin’s mistakes, without being condescending. Reassured, Jack focused on painting and slipped into the zone. He became so absorbed in his work he had to be called twice for lunch. 

After lunch Loki said he had research to conduct and sealed the upper level so he would not be disturbed. Jack changed into his new clothes, and gathered up Corbin to head over to Stark tower for the first day of their internship. While Corbin eyed him, they didn’t question that Jack had modified his clothes to fit his wings and tail. It wasn’t until they were in the short hall to the elevator that they asked. 

“Papa, aren’t you going to change into human form?” Unspoken was whether he was going to mask Corbin’s own appearance with an illusion. 

“No. I see no reason to pretend to be human when I am not. We will not constrain our lives because of someone else’s prejudice.” 

“Loki thinks its dangerous for me, to be me, here.” 

“Loki didn’t grow up on Sakaar. These people may be startled or frightened or even angry, but they won’t attack out of hand. Especially not at the lunch hour when they are mostly concerned with grabbing a bite to eat, before they have to hurry back to their jobs. Besides, no one here has energy weapons. All we have to worry about is some nut job with a gun.” 

“But what if there is a nut job with a gun?” Corbin asked, still worried. 

“Little Bird there is always a _what if_ , but Loki taught you shielding. Yours will hold up to a few bullets and I will not give any attacker a chance to reload.” 

Jack gave Corbin a hug as the elevator opened. They crossed the empty hallway hand in hand and stepped out into the sidewalk. The crowd parted around them and there was moment of confusion as those who had passed stopped to do a double take and those in front paused at their approach. Jack however knew how humans thought, he’d been doing it most of his life and he strode forward confidently and pulled Corbin along with him. There was a ripple in the path they walked but it passed as those who had not noticed them hurried past those who had paused. Jack found it amazing how many people walked with their eyes glued to their phones, relying on their peripheral vision to navigate the streets. More them one person brushed past his wings without lifting their eyes. There was a gap behind them to be sure, but as nothing continued to happen the gap narrowed to almost the normal following distance. Though many people stared at them, no one spoke to them. 

It wasn’t until they stood at a corner waiting for a light that a boy of around 10, wearing an overstuffed backpack, pointed at Corbin’s wings and asked, 

“Are those real?” 

“Yes.” Corbin answered. 

“Can you fly?” 

“Yes.” 

“Cool.” the boy smiled and Corbin smiled back. “So why are you walking?” 

The light changed and the boy trotted beside Corbin. Corbin turned to Jack and asked. 

“Why are we walking?” 

“Cause we probably need a pilot’s license and would have to file a flight plan and that kind of sh, stuff.” 

“Is that your Dad?” 

Corbin considered the question, then answered “He’s my Papa.” 

“You talk funny. Where you from?” 

“Sakaar.” 

“Where is that? My best friend is from Ghana.” 

“It’s in Tayo star system on the edge of the Fornax Galaxy.” 

“You’re from outer space? Are you an alien?” 

“No more than you are.” Corbin’s tail flicked, signaling annoyance at the barrage of questions. 

“I’m not an alien. I’m from the Village.” 

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Jack interrupted. “Like school?” 

The boy looked at him, glanced around and nodded. 

“Then go there and stop bugging us.” 

The boy stopped and they walked away from him. 

“Are all humans so prying?” Corbin asked. 

“Naw, it’s an American thing.” Jack answered. 

No one else approached during the last few blocks to Stark tower, but Jack was aware of all the cell phones pointed at them. As they approached the building Jack recognized Hogan, the driver from the morning before, standing at the glass doors. Jack turned around and bowed to his audience and Corbin, catching on, did the same. There was a wave of applause and they stepped into the lobby, Hogan locking the doors behind them. He said nothing on the ride to the penthouse, though he radiated disapproval. Stark waited for them, looking slightly rumpled and clutching a cup of coffee. 

“What’s your game Batboy?” 

“Game?” Jack said. “I’m not sure what you mean Stark. I believe you offered an internship to Corbin. Loki agreed that it would be good for them, so here we are.” 

“At way the ff... heck too early. What was that performance on my front doorstep about?” 

“It’s one o’clock in the afternoon, Stark. Not exactly the crack of dawn. We gathered a following on the way here and I was thanking them. I thought to would be rude not to.” 

“And you’re all about manners. You know you two are all over social media.” 

“So what’s the leading theory?” Jack asked. 

“Friday?” 

“Twenty seven point six percent have advanced the idea their appearance is guerilla advertising, most citing the upcoming Good Omen’s series. Thirty two point four percent assert they are cosplayers and are wondering if there is a convention in town. Nineteen point eight percent think they are street performers. There are many other speculations, but none with more than three percent agreement.” 

“How many think we are aliens or monsters?” Jack asked. 

“One point seven percent for alien origin, though that number has dropped from two point nine, after the boy who spoke to you claimed you were from Saturn. If I include the terms cryptid and demon in the monster category the total is five point eight. Unless you wish me to include the statements from those who claim a desire to engage in intimate activity with Mr. Linden, in which case it is twelve point four percent. There is considerable overlap in the categories.” 

“See.” Jack said. “No problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They are trying at least.


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tying up loose ends with a little magic.

Jack stayed just long enough to see Corbin settled into the lab and ensure that Mr. Hogan would chauffeur him back to Loki’s place. He took a moment to shift into human shape before riding the elevator down to the main floor. When he walked out the front doors, He made sure his shirt gaped in the back, the empty wing slits showing only his pale skin and bony shoulder blades. A few of the people who had watched him and Corbin enter Stark Tower were still there, and again phones were pointed in his direction. Jack smiled and waved. The open shirt was cold and he shivered as the winter wind blew over his bare skin. The return walk seemed far longer then it had a half hour ago. A couple of people approached and asked him why he and Corbin had been wearing costumes. Jack just shook his head and put a finger to his lips. They would come up with a better explanation on their own, than he could.

Jack was halfway back when his phone rang with the strains of ‘Killer Queen’.

“What’s up, my Lord?”

“That is the question I am asking you. Or to more precise. What are you up to?”

“About 5’10”

“Jack, I have no time for your foolery.”

“It’s a sad day when the god of mischief has no time for a fool.”

There was a soft laugh. 

“Little demon, are you trying to provoke me?”

“Maybe, what do I get if I succeed?”

“A rather upset Thunder god. Thor called and is badgering me about some trick you pulled.” 

“Can I get the consolation prize instead?”

“Me taking your hide off an inch at a time?”

“ooh… um.. can I think about that for a minute?”

“Jack. Did you parade Corbin around New York without a glamour on him?”

“Yes I did, but... can I explain when I get home? I’m almost there.”

“Very well, but it better be good.”

“It is. You’ll like it... I think.” 

But Jack was talking to dead air. He hurried his steps, both from the cold and to not keep Loki waiting.

He was still shivering when he walked into the apartment, his fingers shoved in his armpits in an attempt to warm them. 

“Upstairs.” Came the command.

Jack made it to top floor and found Loki leaning back in his work chair, a smirk on his face. He pointed to the floor and Jack dropped to his hands and knees, crawled over and knelt at Loki’s feet. 

“Clever little beast.” Loki said.

Jack preened under the praise and dared to nuzzle Loki’s knee with his cheek. Fingers tightened in his hair and his head was tilted back. 

“You knew they would not believe what they saw. I am curious how you knew.”

“People hear hoof beats they think horse, not zebra and definitely not unicorn. If you put a saddle and bridle on a unicorn and ride it down the road, obviously it’s a horse in costume. People prefer an ordinary explanation. It’s easier to believe.”

“How long to you intend to keep this farce going?”

“Until we are accepted us as a normal part of the area. I was thinking I might do a little sleight of hand tricks to bolster the image.”

“You know how to perform prestidigitation?”

“No. But I figured you could teach me how to do illusions that would look like I could.”

“You would use real magic to create an illusion of false magic?”

Jack tilted his head and frowned a bit, trying to find the error in his idea.

“Uh… Yeah?”

“Have you considered that it would be easier to simply learn stage magic?”

“Oh… It would be?”

“Considerably easier.” Loki let go of his hair and patted him on the head. “I suggest you go take a nap. I want you well rested, as I will using you for some spell casting tonight.”

“May I ask what kind of spell casting?”

“No.”

Jack opened his mouth to protest, thought better of it and went into their bedroom instead. He pulled his bed out from under Loki’s and curled up beneath his blanket. He was bored lying in bed and certain he’d spend the rest of the afternoon simply staring at the wall and worrying about what the hell Loki was up to. But it was only a few minutes before he started to yawn and his eyes were drifting closed. Jack shook his head and sat up. That was suspicious. He never took naps, because he normally couldn’t fall asleep during the day. And hadn’t he slept so soundly last night he’d never woken when Thor arrived? The thunder god wasn’t exactly quiet. Jack got up and pulled the mattress out of the bed and checked the underside. Nothing. He flipped the bed over and there along the stitching, almost hidden in the folds of the fabric were tiny runes. They glowed faintly green with Loki’s seidr. 

Jack was annoyed. On one hand it was nice that there was spell to help him fall asleep. On the other hand it left him vulnerable. He’d sleep through any disturbance and not wake until however long the spell was set for. He wondered if the spell was there so he wouldn’t witness Loki and Thor fucking. He considered confronting Loki about it and decided to put it off until later. He’d follow orders for now, but he took note of the time before he lay back down. 

******

It was ten at night when Loki shook him awake. Eight hours Jack noted.

“Get up Jack. You need to be showered and dressed in a quarter hour.”

Jack yawned and stretched. 

“I showered this morning I’m fine."

“No, you are not.” Loki handed him a small jar filled with a thick white liquid. “Use this to wash, your hair included.” 

Jack sniffed it suspiciously, it only smelled of rosemary, lavender and wood smoke.

“Hurry up beast I don’t have time to waste.”

“You could have woken me earlier, if you are in such a damn hurry.” Jack said walking into the bathroom.

“And listen to your prattling questions while I prepared? I think not.”

Jack shut his mouth. He’d find out what this was all about after it was over, not before. Loki wasn’t about to change a lifetime of secrecy just to make him comfortable. He showered and dressed in the clothing Loki had laid out. Linen or cotton by the look of it, the material coarse and white. Not his usual style at all. Most likely it had something to do with the ritual. He didn’t know enough about Loki’s more convoluted magic for it to give him a clue. A movie version of a virgin sacrifice passed through his mind and Jack chuckled. He hadn’t met the qualifications for that in almost half a century.

He joined Loki on the landing where he was having last minute words with Thor. 

“Are you certain you will be alright?” Thor asked.

“I’ve done similar spells in the past.” Loki replied.

“But is it dangerous?”

“Thor all magic has an element of danger. If I succeed that I will regain at least a portion of my power.”

“And if you fail?”

“Then I’ll be no worse off than I was before.”

“Before what?”

“Thor don’t worry. I won’t be alone.”

“I wish you would take me and leave him to look after Corbin.”

“He is necessary for the spell to work. You are not attuned, nor is your particular power going to be helpful. Do not try to stop me brother.”

Thor frowned but he placed his hand on the back of Loki’s neck and pulled them close until their foreheads touched. Loki returned the touch.

“Be careful, Loki.”

“I will beloved.”

Jack looked away as the fraternal embrace became a lover’s kiss. He couldn’t help the jealousy that stirred in his heart, pointless though it was.

Then Loki clipped the leash to his collar and led him not down, but up to the roof. The wind over the rooftops was bitter and Jack shivered in the light clothing, his bare feet crunching through a thin layer of ice. He wrapped his wings around himself.

“It’s fucking cold up here.” He complained. 

“And will get colder.” Loki said. 

He pulled on the leash and Jack followed him between the HVAC and the stairway bulkhead to emerge onto a different roof, ankle deep in snow. The lights were lower, the city smaller and the freezing air was thick with falling flakes. 

“Loki!” Jack whined through chattering teeth.

“Change demon. The dark will hide you from now on.”

Jack shifted into the ice demon form with relief. The air went from biting to caressing in the space of a few breaths. He shook himself, feeling the quills down his spine and on his head settle with a dry rattling sound. 

“Thanks.” he said and winced at the sound of his voice. He thought about that reaction as Loki walked them further north, from small city to town to the outskirts of a village. It was only a minor irritation, Jack had come to terms with the stranger aspects of this shape, but that damn lisp annoyed him. No wonder the Ice People sang everything instead of speaking.

He trotted easily beside Loki now. Even the darkness under the storm clouds wasn’t impenetrable. As Loki shifted further north the clouds gave way to stars, and with his light sensitive eyes they sparkled across the sky. Eventually even the villages were gone and the world was one white unbroken plain. 

They stopped and Jack stretched his wings. The wind ruffled his hair and the winter sky called to him. As he looked skyward lights of green and red and pink swept in waves over the diamond studded dark. There was a low sound that sang through his bones and Jack threw back his head and sang in answer. A tug on his collar reminded him of Loki’s presence and he turned his head. His god was entrancingly beautiful, His skin the color of the blue ice shadows and his eyes like rubies. Lines of lighter blue adorned his face and the backs of his hands.

“Please?” Jack pleaded motioning toward the sky. 

Loki unlatched the leash. “Don’t go far.”

“I won’t.” Jack promised, crouching low to the ground. 

He kicked upward, his wings giving him he extra thrust to get airborne, then with a few heavy down strokes he was flying. Riding the wind and circling higher. Singing with the Aurora Borealis, its tones too high or low for human ears, lost in the pure joy of flight and song and winter. This was his legacy, his true environment and he swooped and dove danced across the sky. When he felt the touch of Loki’s magic, he considered abandoning his god to his own devices while he rode free on the winds. Loki’s call however was stronger than the instinct compelling him to fly and he turned back. Jack landed beside Loki, his beating wings stirring up clouds of snow. The powdery snow did not settle on Loki, as Jack had hoped nor on the pentagram carved into the ice. Both were protected by a pale green glow of the sorcerer’s power. There was a gap at the bottom of the pentagram and Jack asked.

“I take it you want me inside?” He’d been the battery Loki tapped for his spells before, though then he’d been standing naked against a wall the last time, instead of laying down clothed. 

“Yes, as you have in the past.”

Jack stretched to work out any tight muscles from his flight, stepped through the gap and lay on his back, squirming until all his spine quills were comfortably aligned. He grasped the rod above his head with both hands, place a foot on each of the rods in the lower points of the pentagram and hooked the thumb claw of his wings over the side rods, carefully folding his wings until the clawed fingertips brushed his sides. He was now the living component of the spell, his magic ready to power the working. Jack waited quietly while Loki bound him with chain and seidr around his wrists and ankles and wing joints. Loki pegged his tail to the ice with a final u-shaped cleat where it crossed the gap. It would serve as the connection between the pentagram and the outer circle. The runes carved in the outer circle were more complex than any Jack had seen before. He sighed and tugged the back of his shirt flat with his wing claws. No point in a wrinkle annoying him for what looked to be a long process.

“Jack,” Loki said when he had settled. “Do you trust your god?”

Jack grimaced, considered lying and then went with the truth. “Mostly?”

Loki moved over to straddle Jack’s hips. He placed one hand on the demon’s throat and a blade appeared in his other. 

“I need you to trust me completely little beast.”

Jack whined and tried not to squirm. 

“I will, I will. Please?”

Loki ran his hand down Jack’s throat over his prominent sternum and into the hollow of his belly. Jack moaned softly as his tunic was lifted, baring the sigil Loki had carved into his abdomen years before. It glowed with the soft green of Loki’s power. 

“Are you begging for knife Jack?”

“Yes! Please, please Loki mark me.” Jack’s cobalt eyes glowed.

“I will Jack, but first you must be prepared for your part in this spell. For you will be the key to unlock the power I need to fully mend the damage that…” Loki stopped, shuddered. “This will not be easy for either of us. No matter what happens you must not break position, you must not shift your form once I begin. Your job, Jack, is to filter the power and feed it to me. If you lose your focus it could kill us both. Do you understand?”

“Don’t move, don’t shapeshift and focus on transferring energy. I got it. But what am I transferring energy from?

“This.” Loki said and pulled from his pocket dimension the softly glowing hemisphere that was the Heart of Serapis. 

“NO!” Jack’s eyes widened. “You can’t ask that of me. Not again. It’s evil! It will eat me, eat you. It’ll drain us both till there is nothing left. It’s a trap. You know that! You told Strange that. Loki think!”

“Calm yourself little beast. I know what I’m doing. I’m not sending you into battle unarmored.”

“But you said it would take years to understand the artifact! You’ve had what? A week?!” his fear made his throat tighten and his voice lilted as if in song.

“I said I have no idea how to destroy it. Which is true. Also that I had no interest in in spending thirty years learning how to craft a solution to his particular dilemma. What I didn’t tell him was I’ve already spent many more years then his short lifetime encompasses researching the magic of other cultures. While I cannot destroy the artifact, I can, with the correct key, unlock it drain it of its power. You Jack are the key.”

“You lied to him.” 

“No. I simply did not reveal all the truth and he, as well as yourself, made assumptions.” 

“Is this now the truth?”

“Jack, time is slipping away. I cannot spend yet another year enduring this half life. I do not do this lightly. Do you trust me?”

“No!” Jack said and oily tears ran over the sharp bones of his face. “But I’ll do as you ask. I’ll do it!” 

******

Jack shut his eyes. His speech no longer words but the tones of the ice people. Were it not for All Speak it would have been undecipherable. Loki could see the way the demons pulse hammered in his long neck and the swipe of the black tongue over his needle sharp fangs wasn’t hunger but nervousness. Jack was a creature of nightmares in this form. Yet he was the one afraid. Loki brushed the tears from Jack’s cheek with his thumb.

“Hush now. Focus on the blade.” Loki said.

He sliced a thin curving line over Jack’s abdomen. Jack gave a soft sigh and his heartbeat slowed. The demon’s blood welled, pale pink and glistening like oil. 

“The heart of the longest night is at hand. No sun will rise. The moon has passed full and will not dare to show her diminished face above the horizon. The veil between the realms of dark and those of light are thinnest now.”

******

The blade burned over Jack’s skin with the intimate bite he loved, the pain as bright, as sharp as the stars in the icy sky. He blinked his eyes open, and watched the shimmer of the Aurora fade. Loki’s magic flowed over and into the design he was cutting and Jack’s own power joined it. Soft glow of blue and green entwined as more of his blood trickled onto his skin. Loki pulled Jack’s shirt back down and his blood soaked into the weave. Then it flowed along the threads, and runes were picked out in soft pink. Their interlaced magic followed the blood, and the patterns woven in the cloth glimmered in the dark. 

Loki held up the blade over the darkly beating heart and Jack watched, in a kind of numb terror as his blood oozed off the knife onto the roiled surface. It seemed to pulse faster and Jack could feel the tug of its presence. The blade disappeared.

“Jack.” Loki said. 

Jack looked into his god’s eyes, his terror plain, his resolution wavering.

“I am depending on you, little demon.”

Jack nodded, he had no words left. His had to do this now. It didn’t matter that he knew his god was playing on his need to be useful, to be worthy. Neither fear nor knowledge negated that which was the core of his own self. Loki stroked over the front of Jacks blood soaked shirt adding a little more of his own power and reinforcing Jack’s shield. 

“Breathe Jack, breathe and focus.”

Jack breathed. He felt the weight as Loki placed the Heart of Serapis on his abdomen over the blood soaked sigil. He watched Loki step out of the pentagram and close the circle connecting the lines with a final touch of his fingernail on the ice. The cuts on Jack’s belly pulsed in time to the heart, and his blood ran into the runes on the clothing and triggered the protections he’d carved into his own skin. The memories cascaded through his mind, pain and pleasure, fear and courage, love and hate and the fierce joy of defiance. As they unlocked so did his darkness, his hunger, his ravaging lust and rage and the raw need to destroy. The power within the heart spread like a spider’s web over his skin, its dark tendrils latching onto the blood magic, spreading outward as it raced along the runes, both woven and carved. Loki’s voice echoed the throb of pulse, his words plaiting a second net into the first. 

Jack's blood spread impossibly thin until it dripped from fingertips and toes and wing joints and the Heart’s darkness followed as it flowed into the pentagram. The star’s lines burned black at the Heart’s touch exploding in searing heat. Jack screamed as power scorched through his clothes burning his shoulders and sides and hips as it crossed and recrossed, building ever higher as it sought a release. Jack held it, as it raged, as it became his rage. As it burned away everything, but the crimson eyes that were locked with his. Voices screamed and clamored in his mind, fear and despair and lost, lost, lost, a millions regrets of hungry ghosts clawed and wept and lusted for power. But his master’s, his love’s, voice overpowered them. Jack held against the flood of emotions one second at a time, a stubborn stone frozen deep into the glacier’s core. Then taking their pain and his, their lust for power and his terror of failing he wove his net. He trapped their broken memories as he had once done to his own, working them into the scaffold Loki had built. His god anchored him in the blaze of madness, an icy point of sanity to attach the spell. 

“NOW!” Loki cried.

Jack opened the link as the Heart’s power burned again over his shoulders and he sent it snaking down his spine, down his tail to the inner circle alight with Loki’s own power. Jack grasped the remnants of minds in his magic, sieved them out and let the Heart’s magic pour through him untainted. The outer circle blazed with a black fire and the runes coruscated with all the colors of darkness. Jack heard Loki’s cry of pain and knew he wrestled with the power of the Heart to bend it to his will. All Jack could do was braid and rebraid his own magic to strain out the scraps of minds as power surged through him. He couldn’t help as his god fought the Heart’s magic. He could feel that battle as Loki’s seidr ebbed and flowed, insinuated itself into the fabric of the trap and took it apart from within. 

Loki unraveled and reworked the enchantment on the Heart as the stars spun in a slow circle overhead. Jack was sick from fighting the corrosive whispering ghosts, from defying his own instinct that told him to change, to give in to the call of the incubus and to defend the Heart against this attack. He was light headed from the slow seeping of blood loss and beginning to feel the cold as more of his life was drained into the spell. Only the sight of Loki, still standing, his hands gracefully manipulating the green wreathed seidr and the snarling devouring magic, kept Jack steady. He was glad for the restraints both physical and magical that secured him in position. He could ignore the protest of muscles strained from inactivity, and mine his own pain for power. For as long as Loki stood, Jack was safe. The dark was strong, but his god was stronger and cleverer. Loki was the one who twisted the rules to his own desire. 

“Loki,” Jack said, “my god, accept my sacrifice.” And he opened that link forged not of spell or rune or even his own blood, but of his faith. “I am thine.”

It was only a tiny amount of strength, but it was infused with everything that Jack believed Loki to be. Powerful, brilliant, ruthless and beautiful beyond compare. Jack might love him or hate him or even distrust him, but he never doubted Loki was a god. He knew with unshakable certainty that no mere artifact could defy his god’s will.

Loki grinned. “Thou art mine.” He said, and grasping the soul force that Jack offered, he drove it like a dagger through the final knot of enchantment.

As the strands of the locking spell fell away, the Heart yielded and gave up its stolen power. Loki laughed in triumph. All the darkness transformed into a soft glowing green which brightened with each of Loki's deep slow breaths. He gathered centuries of squandered spells, the glowing remnants left by those who lost their lives in fruitless greed, their life force cleaned of tainted emotion. Jack watched as the magical energy swirled like a flock of birds, this one, then that one diving down to rest on Loki's outstretched hand. There they were woven into a complex tapestry, mending the rips and gaps in Loki's seidr. He grew stronger by the minute and Jack smiled to see the tension ease from Loki's body. 

Jack’s sight flickered and the last of ghost voices faded and drifted away on the wind. His own spells dissolved like mist. He felt, rather than saw the pulse of Loki’s magic as it traced back along the scoured pathway, healing his burns and easing the aching emptiness of his own drained magic. Jack slow blinked and Loki was kneeling beside him, loosening the last of the chains and bringing his hands down to his sides. Jack flexed his fingers, trying to drive out the stiffness. He was hungry, but there was something else that was important. He frowned, trying to bring it into focus as Loki hauled him to his feet and supported his stumbling steps out of the melting rune circle.

“Loki, I need...” Jack trailed off as his attention was caught by the Aurora Borealis, once again painting the sky in the color of Loki’s magic. His watched it flare and ripple and fade away.

“Did you do that?”

Loki chuckled. “No, little demon, the color is purely coincidental. Now what is it you need?”

Jack dragged his thoughts back from the mesmerizing lights. He shook his head, pushed away from Loki’s support, took a few steps and stood swaying.

“I,” Jack announced with all the formality of a royal proclamation. “Need to piss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's what he stole it for.


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of the spell casting. Loki and Jack are a little tense. Loki's POV this chapter.  
> Porn, pure porn.

Loki removed every bit of the carving and every trace of seidr from the ice as Jack stumbled away to tend to the demands of his body. For a magical creature, he was extremely grounded in the physical. Loki supposed it was because the incubus fed on sexual energy, instead of spiritual power. When Jack came back he crouched in the snow at Loki’s feet. His wings twitched and his tail tip flicked and Loki could hear the crunch of snow as the demon extended and retracted his claws. The quills on his scalp and spine were erect, all signs pointing to irritation. As he watched Jack shifted, shrugged his shoulders and half extended his wings then refolded them.

“Something bothering you?” Loki asked. He tucked the emptied and dormant Heart into a dimensional pocket.

Jack twitched again.

“No!.. Yes. I don’t know. I’m…”

Jack stared at him intently. The demon growled and racked his claws over the blameless ice, then yawned wide displaying his fangs and shut his jaws with a snap. 

Loki knew that behavior was a dominance display. He put a booted foot between Jack’s knees, grabbed him by the collar and hauled him to his feet. Jack clutched his gauntlet with both hands and his claws scratched the metal plate.

“You think to challenge me, beast?” Loki said and his heart beat faster. He grinned. A physical fight would take the edge off. 

“Nooo! I… don’t… I … Looo key!” The growl turned into a rising whine and Jack shivered, turned his head, bared his throat, and snapped his jaws again.

Loki could see the conflict in the demon’s body, as he displayed submission and aggression at the same time. He’d seen something similar before. He flashed on a memory of Jack on all fours, rending a blanket into shreds and howling in desire. 

“So that’s your problem, Jack? You want to be fucked?” Loki grasped Jack’s jaw and pulled his head around forcing Jack to meet his eyes.

“Nooo! I Need… I…” Tears welled up in the demon’s eyes and spilled down his cheeks. “Your magic is fixed. You don’t need me anymore!”

“This? Again?” Loki snarled. 

His patience was gone. He was edgy from a night of difficult spell work and uneasy in the form the climate forced him to take. The last thing he needed was his idiot demon having an identity crisis. He moved his hand from Jack’s jaw to the front of his shirt, picked him up and threw him across the ice.

Jack twisted like a cat and hit the ground on feet, wing joints and hands, the energy of the throw rebounding as he launched himself at Loki with a scream, claws unsheathed and jaws gaped wide.

Loki laughed and meet the attack halfway. He spun and struck and blocked in a dance that he’d been denied too long. Thor wouldn’t spar with him while he was still recovering and killing the human mages had been ridiculously easy. But an enraged Ice demon was perfect for working out the overflowing nervous energy. Jack was quick and precise even in a fury and Loki felt himself tested as he hadn’t been in a long time. They traded strike and counter strike, knives against claws, clenched fists against battering wings. The beast had improved his fighting skills while on Sakaar, and his moves were no longer purely defensive. And he was grinning back, his former uneasiness transformed into the joy of combat. Loki winced as Jack’s mace like tail caught him a glancing blow across his hip, the spines tearing through clothing momentarily unprotected by his swirling leather coat. 

Loki threw a dagger only to have it embed itself in a shield of ice. Two could play at that game and Jack was forced into the air as Loki turned the ground under his feet, into jutting ice stalagmites. Drops of pick blood testified he hadn’t been quick enough to get away unscathed.

The demon retaliated with a shower of ice shards, which Loki met with a barrage of his own, turning the air into a thick sparkling fog of shattered ice. Loki barely blocked the demon’s slashing claws when he dove out of the fog and knocked him to the ground. Loki wrestled the beast onto his back and his superior strength enabled him to hold both of Jack’s slender wrists in one long fingered hand. Jack’s thighs where pinned under his knees, his wings useless under their combined weight and the ice moved to Loki's command, gripping the mace end of the demons tail. The dagger at the beast’s throat ensured he would not attempt to bite.

Loki panted from exertion and watched Jack’s expression soften. The demon dipped his head and his long tongue curled around Loki’s fist, cold as the ice that surrounded them, yet slick and smooth. Loki felt the touch all the way down to his groin. He leaned forward until their cheeks brushed. 

“Should I take you on your back like a lover, or on your knees like the beast you are?” Loki whispered in a low voice.

“Your beast.” Jack panted back. 

Which was answer enough. Loki slid off releasing the demon and Jack rolled over, pulled his knees up, folded his wings and lowered his upper body until his shoulders touched the ground. Loki ripped the waist band to free it from his tail, there was no way the spiked end would fit through original small opening and the pants dropped to the demon’s bony knees. Loki undid the front of his pants freeing his cock and placed his hands over the sharply defined hipbones, his cerulean skin dark on the white suede hide. He could smell Jacks arousal, a bitter musky tang that made his heart beat faster and his cock throb in anticipation. He cupped the lean muscle of the demon’s ass and stroked his thumb between his buttocks. Over the tight ringed hole that was the same pale pink as his nipples and down further to the slit, slick and oily. He slid his thumb into the cold rippled grip and rubbed Jack’s balls, retracted half into his abdomen from the chilled air.

“Fuck me!” Jack demanded more than plead, rocking back against Loki’s touch. Loki laughed and took his hand away. 

“Impatient little demon. You’re ugly as sin like this.” Loki lined up his cock, felt the welcoming cold against the purple flushed head and shoved into Jack’s slit.

“Yessss!” Jack cried. 

The demon clenched wet and tight and cool around his cock and Loki moaned, “Norns that feels good.”

He snapped his hips forward as he pulled Jack back. Loki ground in small circles, as if he could bury himself deeper. Jack was squirming under him, whimpering, his own hips rocking. Loki realized the demon had reached down to grasp his own cock and was jerking off.

“Disobedient little beast.” Loki hissed. He pulled half out and drove back in. “Shall I whip you for every time you come?”

Jack’s answer was an inarticulate cry and the soft sound of skin sliding faster on skin. Loki chuckled and increased his pace. 

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” Loki teased. “The hot sting of leather kissing your back. The sharp nip as the tip bites into your skin.” 

Jack was gasping, begging in a mix of whines interspersed with “Please! Yes! Harder!” 

The demon’s quim was milking Loki’s cock with rhythmic squeezes that matched the frantic movement of his stroking hand. Loki obliged, rutting into Jack’s wriggling body with brutal force. Jack moaned, shuddered and spasmed. Loki drove into the grasping cold. Not slowing his pace as Jack panted and gasped through his own release. His laughter was wild as the demon struggled and twisted under him, overwhelmed with sensation.

“Too much, oh my god! Loki it’s too much I can’t…please...”

“Too much for an incubus?" Loki said between rasping breaths. “I think not. I’ll stop when I’m sated. When I’ve filled you with every drop of my seed. Do you want that Jack?”

“Yes. Please! Uh! More! Uhnn!” Jack’s words were lost in soft sounds and Loki grinned. He loved how the demon was again stroking his oversensitive cock and begging Loki for every touch. 

“More?” Loki growled as his hips slapped Jack’s rump. “Shall I breed you little beast?

“Yes! 

“Ragnarok has come and Asgard is gone. Shall we bring it upon the earth this time?” Loki's voice was harsh. “Shall I fill your womb with a race of monsters?”

“Do it!” Jack yelled, lost in the same madness.

“Shall you birth lethal serpents and ravening wolves and another goddess of death to challenge my sister’s rule in the bowels of hell?” 

“Don’t care! Tear me apart. Breed me. Destroy me. Anything you want. Anything!”

Seidr glowing bright as a bonfire wrapped them both. Loki’s hands gripped Jack’s hips with bruising force and his nails drew blood that streaked the pale hide. Jack bucked back into his thrusts, demanding.

“Shall we unleash chaos and watch your world burn? Shall we?” 

Loki's blood was pounding in his ears, his cock sending wave after wave of pleasure to his overwhelmed brain, he was consumed by violence and lust and visions of destruction. 

“Damn you!” Jack screamed. “Damn your black soul to hell!” He howled and writhed in climax, the demon’s quim clutching Loki’s plunging cock in an icy slick grip.

Loki’s only reply was a wordless cry of pleasure. His eyes half closed, his thrusts stuttered, uneven and the building pressure broke in a shattering torrent. Loki shuddered in release, and pumped his seed into the freezing core of Jack’s quivering body. The demon’s wings were half spread and beat against the snow like a trapped moth. Loki could hear his sobbing gasping cries. 

“Love you, love you, love you!” 

The magic pulsed with Loki’s heartbeats, slowing as he gasped for breath, fading into a pale glow that settled on their skin. Loki braced himself on one hand and careful of Jacks quill’s, leaned forward and kissed the side of his neck.

“I know, little demon. I know.” 

When Jack turned his head into the caress, Loki kissed the sharp cheek bones and the long line of his jaw. Jack tears weren’t salty, they were sweet and oily on his lips. Loki raised back up, and pulled away from him, leaving the slick chill of his body for the dry cold of the arctic air. Jack whimpered at the loss and Loki smiled. A touch of power and they were both clean. Loki tucked his cock back into his pants and rose to his feet, shedding the hated blue skin and resuming his normal form. He could survive the arctic temperatures for the short amount of time it took to leave the frozen land.

Jack rolled heavily onto his side and lay panting, his ass still bare and his clothes disarranged.

“How can you, how can you stand?” Jack asked. “I think my bones are melted.” 

The demon narrowed his eyes. “Did you just threaten to destroy earth?”

“Did you damn my black soul to hell?”

“Maybe?”

Loki prodded him with the toe of his boot.

“Get up beast. We are done here.” 

Jack fumbled for his waist band, pulled his pants up and staggered to his feet. He botched the cantrip to repair the torn cloth and Loki stepped in and fixed it with a touch. When he did Jack slid his arms around him and pressed his face to Loki’s chest. 

“Mine!” Jack said. 

Loki snapped the leash onto Jack’s collar and jerked his head back.

“No. You are mine. Not the other way around.”

“My god.” Jack said stubbornly.

“Heel.” Loki snapped and Jack let go and dropped down to his hands and knees.

“Asshole.” Jack muttered. Loki kicked him in the ribs. It was a warning and only hard enough to bruise.

Jack went silent then lowered his head, defiant despite his seeming compliance. 

Loki turned and strode across the ice and Jack scrambled to keep up. With his seidr restored Loki could have teleported them to the roof of their building in one step, but Jack needed a reminder of his status. Loki dragged him half choking through snow banks and over ice fields, under the clutching branches of pine trees and across rutted frozen farm land, up rocky slopes and down rain slick cobbled streets until Jack was sobbing his remorse. Half way through their journey Jack had shifted back to demi demon to cope with the increasing warmth. When Loki finally stopped, Jack laid his head against Loki’s thigh. Loki stroked his fingers through Jack’s hair. The demon sniffled and then said.

“Thank you.”

“Better now?”

“Yes. Sorry.”

“Do not attempt to be possessive again. I will not tolerate it.”

“I won’t.”

“Good Jack.”

Loki pulled Jack to his feet and brought them to the rooftop of their New York home. 

“Loki?” Jack said.

“Yes?” There was irritation in Loki’s tone as he paused one hand on the stairwell door.

“Were you still using your birth control spell?”

Loki smiled. “No.” He opened the door and stepped inside.

“Then I could get pregnant from tonight?”

“There is a very good chance of it. An excellent chance I would say.”

“Oh.” Jack said. 

He followed Loki into the building. Halfway down the stairs he said “Oooh.” Loki grinned when he heard Jack start humming a lilting tune. 

Thor was going to be thoroughly pissed off when he found out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack is very insecure and has a vicious temper. Loki knew he'd respond to that physical rebuff with an attack. They were both spoiling for a fight, mentally weary and emotionally over charged.  
> Loki "putting him in his place", makes Jack feel loved and secure. If Loki goes to all that trouble, Jack thinks, he must be worth the effort. Plus it reinforces his need to be directed. (Not a good thing in a real relationship, but this is fantasy)  
> Loki did just deliberately try to get him pregnant.

**Author's Note:**

> Ah yes, another OC fiction featuring my character Jack Linden of dubious morals and even more dubious parentage. Pain, angst, misunderstandings, occasional violence, and a fair amount of porn to follow. Updates will happen when they happen.


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